


Against His Better Judgement

by lululawrence



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kinda, M/M, Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 10:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4300554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. </p><p>Or a husband. Whatever.</p><p>The modern Pride and Prejudice AU starring Louis as Elizabeth Bennett, Harry as Mr Darcy, Zayn as Jane/Charlotte, Liam as Mr Bingley, Gemma as Georgiana, and Niall as.....well...Niall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Against His Better Judgement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gallifreyandglowclouds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/gifts).



> First things first: thank you SO MUCH for this incredible prompt! I about died of excitement when I read it. This was the hardest fic I've ever written, but I'm also the most proud of it, so I really hope you like it. I tried my best to put in everything you asked for, and I think I did pretty well considering.
> 
> With that being said, I did make an original character for Louis' dad and in no way feel that I did a fair representation of the others. I do not know them or their families and this is, after all, a work of fiction. 
> 
> Massive thank you to [Brandi](http://littlescumbags.tumblr.com) and [Roni](http://reminiscingintherain.tumblr.com) who had to deal with my constant neediness and questions while writing and to the huge amounts of help that [Shar](http://tommosgun.tumblr.com), [Beth](http://bethaboolou.tumblr.com), and [Em](http://harrystylesisonesmartcookie.tumblr.com) were once it was finally finished. This would be the biggest mess without all of you! All remaining errors are my own. 
> 
> The title is an adapted line from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. And with that, I hope you enjoy!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Or a husband. Whatever.

Either way, Louis' dad had been incredibly set on him attending this party just because Harry fucking Styles was supposed to be there. Then again, Louis' dad had considered Louis a menace to society for not being in a relationship ever since he turned 25 last December and with his 26th creeping up he had gotten quite ridiculous.

You see, Charles Tomlinson was a social climber. Or, he wished to be. He came from a blue collar family and when he married Louis' mom, a takes-no-sass head of household kind of woman from an upper middle class family, Charles just figured he had risen from his roots and was determined to see his children do the same.

Which is where Harry came in. Harry, son of Anne Twist, newly re-married romance writer, and Des Styles, quite possibly the most famous of British music royalty behind only the Beatles. Being the son of two lucrative parents set him up to be quite well off himself and at the age of 23 he seemed to be so, though in business rather than the more public professions his parents chose. After graduating from Cambridge, he had joined his uncle's firm and was finishing his rounds working with all the departments and locations, including the small office located in their very own Doncaster, before he took his position as Director of Communications.

In other words, he had been deemed the perfect match for any of the five Tomlinson children, though only three were actually of an age where they should even think of marriage. The youngest girls, 14 year old twins, could hold their own, but even Charles admitted that, for the time being at least, they were a bit too young for a 23 year old.

As it were, Louis now found himself accompanied by his best friend Zayn and sisters Lottie and Fizzy at his friend Stan's house party, on the lookout for Harry and his almost as rich best friend and colleague, Liam Payne. How anyone associated with the party had met and issued the invite in the first place much less to have them accepted was beyond Louis. All he knew was his father had instructed them all to make friends with the duo and do all they could to leave a good impression on them so they could catch not just one, but both of the men.

Louis rolled his eyes to himself as he drained his cup of the fruity mixture that Zayn had been so kind as to bring him earlier. It was a bit heavier on the rum than he had anticipated, cheers. The music was great, as was the usual for Stan's parties, so Louis set his cup down on a shelf and reached for Zayn's hand.

"There are no hot guys here, outside of ourselves. Dance with me? Please?"

Zayn gave a sigh before setting his drink beside Louis' and heading towards the makeshift dance floor. They joined a circle with their good friends since lower sixth, Perrie and Eleanor, when some shouting started near the kitchen. Louis turned his head and found two well dressed, unknown guys standing stiffly in the doorway as one of Stan's neighbors seemed to be making a ruckus. The taller one with curly hair, who was maybe somewhat attractive despite everything Louis was telling himself, merely looked on with disdain.

"Ooh, doesn't he look to be a charming sort?" Louis teased to Zayn, who tried to kindly cover his laughter in a cough. That was more than Louis felt they deserved, and he turned back around and continued dancing.

"The one with the short hair is quite fit, don't you think?" Zayn asked after a few more minutes of dancing and, on his part anyway, sneaky glances towards the newcomers.

"I'm more into the curly one, myself, but have at it. I won't be pulling tonight, not from the likes of them," Louis shrugged. "I'm gonna go get another drink. You want anything?"

"Nah, think I might try my luck with muscles," Zayn smiled before heading to the couch where the two were perched.

Louis got held up by some friends who were in town for the weekend and by the time he finally made it back to the alcohol in the kitchen it had been a healthy hour of Zayn cutting up the dance floor with Mr. Man. Louis was curious as to which one it was, because he seemed genuinely taken by Zayn. Who wouldn't be, though? He had the looks of a Gucci model paired with the biggest heart and sharp wit. Anyone would be lucky to catch his attention and thankfully this guy seemed to recognize that.

Louis was looking for another mixer in the walk-in pantry when he heard Zayn's name mentioned. He shuffled quietly towards the door to be able to hear a bit easier.

"...and Zayn is so nice, Haz. He really is. And gorgeous! Did you even see him? Why don't you come out on the dance floor with us?"

So apparently Zayn had snagged Liam. Nice.

"You know I'm not happy about being here in the first place, Liam. I just want to get back to the hotel and check in on Gem."

"I know you do, but Niall swore he would take care of her, right? You just need to relax. How about you grab Zayn's best mate, Louis, and have some fun. He's just your type and is definitely both single and into men."

Louis smiled smugly. So he's got a type and Louis fits that? Won't his father be pleased.

"He's tolerable, I guess. But not anyone I'd pull, even for the night. You found the only quality person here, from what I can tell. Now go back out there and let me be."

Louis' jaw dropped. He wasn't the most gorgeous of men, but he took care of himself and as he glanced down at his red scoop neck and black skinny jeans, he had to admit he looked pretty damn good. Tolerable! Not someone he would take home, even for the night?! Seriously, how rude!

"Well, if you happen to change your mind, you'd be more than welcome."

Clutching the fruit cocktail in rage, Louis stalked out of the pantry only to find Harry still standing there.

"Oh, pardon me," Harry offered without even fully looking up from his phone.

Louis huffed and rolled his eyes with as much attitude as he could before going and trying to replicate Zayn's drink, maybe with even more rum than before. By the time he turned around again, he found that Harry had left the room without another word.

Good riddance.

~~~~~

"Zayn, are you even listening to me? He basically called me ugly," Louis whined, still rather pissed, which probably accounted for the fact he was still fussing about Harry and from the floor of Zayn's room no less. Louis could have easily gone to his own bed once they returned to the flat, but he had been on such a run of complaining that he automatically followed Zayn to his and never left.

"From what you've told me, he didn't actually call you ugly, though he was a bit harsh and for that I'm sorry."

Louis hummed in acceptance of the apology before turning his head towards where he could see Zayn's long hair cascading over the side of the bed.

"Zee? You haven't mentioned Liam yet. He definitely seemed to catch your eye and vice versa. What's going on there, hmm?"

The way Zayn cleared his throat, in what was obviously his attempt at a diversionary tactic, made it so Louis could almost see his blush even through the darkness.

"Well, he invited me over to their suite tomorrow night for dinner," he responded quietly. Louis' eyes grew wide at the admission and he sat up, swimming vision be damned.

"You have a date with the first guy you've been attracted to since sleazeball Paul and you didn't bother to tell me until now?!" Louis cried. And he thought they were best friends.

"Well...I knew how hard your dad had been pushing you three toward him and Harry, and then after what Harry said about you, I really didn't want to throw this in your face, so..."

"Oh please. My being happily single and supposedly disrespecting my father is absolutely nothing for you to feel bad about. You really seemed to hit it off with him! Why wouldn't I be happy for you?"

Zayn had sat up on his bed and was facing Louis now. He offered a shy shrug but continued to play with the worn sheets on his bed.

Louis scooted closer and placed his hand on his friend's knee, both for comfort and to help keep the room steady. The alcohol seemed to finally be hitting him with its full effect and Louis knew he needed to get his thoughts out now before he passed out, preferably on his own bed.

"Love, I might not approve of his friend being all cocky and rude, but Liam seems to be a true gent and hopefully will treat you right. I hope it works out well for you."

Zayn leaned forward and gave Louis a tight hug before smacking him upside the head. "Thanks, Lou. Now get to your own room. If you puke during the night due to your own bad choices I don't want my room smelling of it for days."

Louis gave a mocking laugh, or he attempted to, but halfway through he lost the energy and puttered off to his bed for the night.

~~~~~

Louis tossed himself down in the booth where his mum, Lottie, and Fizzy were waiting for him.

"I know, I know, I'm late, I'm sorry. Zayn has this date tonight that he is totally excited about and he was freaking out over what to wear and I had to calm him down before I sent him off to win his man," Louis said as fast as he could while he fixed his hair from the slight rain and wind outdoors.

Jay fixed him with a knowing gaze. "From what these two have said, he's already won his man, this is just follow up."

Louis gasped and shot an accusing glare at his sisters, who continued to eat the bread they had ordered while waiting for him to get there.

"You started the goss without me! I thought that's what these girls nights are for, and you go and get started before I arrive!" he cried. "Just see if I share the good stuff with you lot next time."

"Come on, Lou," Lottie complained. "It's not like we told anything you don't already know. Besides, I'm sure you have more information than we could have shared just by observing them on the dance floor last night."

Louis was still pouting when their waiter appeared.

"Hello, looks like your fourth arrived! My name is James, what can I get you to drink?"

Louis' eyes scanned the waiter he had never met before, smiling and ordering a pint. To his surprise and pleasure, it seemed James was checking him out as well. Louis smirked when his gaze rested on his face again and raised his eyebrows in question. James just blushed, told them the soup special for the day, and went off to grab Louis' beer.

Louis turned back to his family and found them all smiling at him. "What? He's fit, alright? God."

Jay rolled her eyes at him. "So, tell us more about Liam. We swear to keep your father thinking he is interested in one of you, but you'll have to fight over who gets Liam and who gets Harry."

"No one is 'getting' Harry, not even for a game against dad and his ridiculous marriage hopes. He's so awful, Mum, I'm serious. He's stuck up and rude and condescending and...no. I can't even pretend that any of us would be interested in him. No." Louis must have said all of that with more emphatic feeling than he realized because, when he looked around, all three women were looking at him in shock.

"What the hell, Lou? It didn't look like you even got near enough to him to hold a conversation. How did you come to be of that opinion?" Fizzy quizzed.

Louis fish-mouthed for a minute as he attempted to come up with a reply. Of course they didn't know he had been slighted by the man.

He finally took a deep breath as he focused on the menu to choose between aubergine parmesan and a chicken penne alfredo as he said, "Don't worry about how I know. Just take my word that Harry Styles is a wanker."

Right at that moment James set down his pint and said, "Sorry to intrude, but how do you know Harry?"

As Louis snorted, Lottie took the chance to be polite. "We don't really, he's just in town for a bit finishing an assignment so we ran into him at a party last night."

James looked surprised by this. That threw Louis off guard, as if James was surprised that Harry would be anywhere near their small town.

"Ah. Well, I can second the opinion that he is a wanker. Anyways, are you ready to order your meals?"

Curious but knowing now wasn't the time to delve into James’ own backstory, Louis remained quiet and some flirting between James and Louis became increasingly obvious as everyone gave their orders then James walked away to place them.  

"Daddy is going to lose it when he learns you were flirting with our waiter instead of Harry Styles," Fizzy teased.

"Shut up," Louis whined, throwing an over the top fake pout across the table. He was just about to take another bite of bread when his phone started vibrating. He looked down and saw it was Zayn.

Louis sighed and rolled his eyes as he stood from the table.

"Zayn needs some confidence boosting, I'm afraid. I'll be right back."

Louis walked towards the front, sliding his thumb to accept the call as he exited the restaurant, and huffing out, "Zayn, you need to just man up and knock on their door already."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Louis held the phone back to make sure it was connected before saying, "Zee? You there?"

The voice that responded did not belong to Zayn. "Louis, thank God. I didn't know who else to call. Zayn got here a few minutes ago and he didn't look so good. I mean, he always looks good but he didn't look quite right, you understand? He looked almost green, if you can imagine that..."

"Liam?" Louis interrupted, making sure he knew who he was talking to.

"Yeah?"

"Calm your tits and get to the point. Why are you calling me from Zayn's phone when you should be on a date with him?"

"That's what I was trying to say. He got here and he immediately started puking, mate. I got him to the bathroom as soon as I could, but he's a right mess and I don't know what to do! He just keeps asking for you, said you could help."

"Shit, what am I supposed to do? Maybe he thought that because me mum's a nurse. Okay, where are you?"

After he got the hotel information he hung up and went in to get advice from Jay and make excuses. He had just texted for a taxi and Jay was finishing her explanation of why hydration was most important when James came back with their food.

"Oh, mate, I can't stay, but if you bag it up and send it with the girls, that would be great," he said half distracted. "Looks like the cab's here, I've gotta run. See you later! Love you all!" Louis kissed them all on the cheek and was about to walk out the door when he heard his name. He turned around and saw James running towards him with a bag filled with take-out.

"I 'accidentally' gave you the wrong food," he said with a wink as he handed the entirely too large bag over to Louis. "Don't want you going hungry."

Louis beamed at him and flicked his fringe away from his forehead. "Thanks, love. I appreciate it. I'll defo be back another time, yeah?"

"Hope so," James answered with a smile before returning to his tables.

~~~~~

"Love, I need you to drink again. Just a bit, there you are."  Louis helped Zayn lower his head back onto the rolled towels they had set as a pillow for him on the bathroom floor.

Currently, Zayn was clad in an oversized pair of Liam's trackies and a hideous jumper whose ownership was a bit dubious. Then again, if it was Louis' he wouldn't claim it in front of others either. It was nearing two in the morning and it seemed the food poisoning that had hit thanks to a dodgy sandwich he'd had for lunch was finally calming down. Liam had been absolutely perfect, fetching anything Zayn asked for as well as whatever Louis indicated they might need.

Meanwhile, Harry had kept well enough away, constantly mumbling into his phone. Honestly, was there nothing better he could be doing than sitting on his phone while Louis and Liam were nearly run ragged caring for Zayn? Not that Louis wanted him around, anyway. Prat.

After making sure Zayn was as comfortable as he could be while sick on the bathroom floor, Louis wandered back to the kitchen area of the suite to finally have more than a bite or two of dinner. Between the food James had given him and the meal Liam had ready to go, the three of them were not left wanting. He decided the chicken parm would probably be the best bet to eat while cold, and it somehow hadn't been touched yet.

As Louis was pulling the box out, he saw something written on the top. He took the box over to one of the few lights still on in the common area to read what it said.

_James George 07562 998317_

Louis had covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he tried to withhold a giggle in excitement over getting his number. He was so gorgeous and tall and his smile was so pretty...

"How the hell do you know James George?"

Louis was immediately wrenched from his happy place at the sound of Harry's voice. Louis looked over his shoulder to find the taller man standing right behind him, too close for Louis' comfort.

"How the hell do you?"

Somehow, the frown that seemed permanently etched upon this curly haired monster's face became even worse as it turned to a sneer. "Let's just say we have history that I'd rather forget."

"Well, let's just say that I hope to make some history with him," Louis considered leaving it there but ultimately decided that was too rude even for him. "And even though I don't think it should matter to you, since you obviously wish to forget him, I just met him tonight at the restaurant he happens to work at."

Harry grunted as he rolled his eyes and turned away. "Service industry. Should have known."

Louis froze and felt the hair on the back of neck rise in anger. "And what's so wrong with the service industry? Are they too far below you to waste your time on? Or perhaps we are only tolerable so you don't have to do the dirty work yourself, is that it?" Louis wasn't sure if Harry realized Louis had overheard what he had said about him the night before, but either way it got the reaction he wanted.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. If you knew anything about James George you would know to stay away."

"So why don't you inform me rather than just saying you have history?" Louis challenged. Harry looked like he was fighting an inner battle, but eventually he threw his hands in the air and stormed from the room.

"Fine! Run away! James said you're a right prick anyway, I guess he was right!" Louis yelled after him.

Harry paused in the doorway before flipping Louis the bird and slamming his bedroom door shut behind him.

Louis turned back around and realized he was still tightly gripping the chicken parm box. He threw it onto the counter and let out a loud growl in frustration before slamming through the cabinets until he finally found plates and cutlery.

After tossing them down beside the open box of food, he placed both hands flat on the counter and dropped his head, focusing on taking deep breaths in an attempt to slow his heart rate. Once he was assured that he was calm enough not to break anything, he slowly took a portion of the food and sat down at the table, trying to forget that Harry Styles existed.

~~~~~

"Liam, thank you so much for letting us crash with you so Zayn didn't have to move while in that state," Louis said sincerely as he helped Zayn out of Liam's car. He was better, but still weak from not eating for almost 24 hours now.

"It was my pleasure. Well, not Zayn being so ill, of course, but your presence under different circumstances would have been wonderful. Ehm, I mean, it wasn't bad having you there even with you being sick, that's not what I meant..." Liam continued to stumble over his words before Zayn finally took pity on him, much to Louis' chagrin.

With a look of fondness, Zayn simply said, "We understand what you're trying to say."

Liam heaved a relieved sigh and replied, "Good."

They waved him off before entering their building and climbing the stairs to their flat. As soon as they walked in Louis' phone chimed, just as it had been doing all morning.

"Who in the world have you been talking to all day? I've not seen you this attached to your phone in ages," Zayn muttered as he collapsed on the couch, exhausted from the trek to get home.

"Just this boy I met last night," Louis said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "He gave me his number with the take-out he practically forced upon me as I left the restaurant to help you. He's gorgeous, Zayny! And smart and funny and I really like him!" Louis faked a swoon as he draped himself over the opposite side of the couch from his roommate.

“Your father would never approve,” Zayn warned.  This had been a reason for contention between Louis and his dad before.

“Thus half of the appeal, but I really do actually like him as well, Zayn.  He’s sweet,” he said fondly.

"You know this from being at dinner with your mum and sisters for 15 minutes and a text conversation over a morning?"

Louis didn't respond because he was a bit too busy replying to James' invite to go out later. He finally looked up at Zayn from his phone over who was piercing him with a knowing stare.

"What?"

"Don't do this again. Don't make flash judgements and then throw yourself into a relationship that is probably best left alone," Zayn warned.

Louis sighed. "That is not what I do!"

"Yes, actually, it is!" Zayn argued back. "You decided after Harry made one flippant, though admittedly rude, remark that you hated him because he is well off and in a good position to increase that wealth, and you deemed him to be conceited, or as you so finely put it Friday night, 'emotionally constipated.' Just because he was harsh towards you, doesn’t mean you should be unduly harsh towards him."

Louis just stared at his lap. He knew if he didn't let Zayn finish before he interrupted, his best friend would get even more worked up and could lecture him until next week. Just as he expected, Zayn soon started up again.

"And I really don't think this James guy is good news. Do you even know anything about him?"

Louis looked up and squawked. "How do you even know his name! I haven't told anyone!"

Zayn leveled his gaze across the couch again. "You told Harry."

Louis snorted. "More like he snuck up behind me and saw his name over my shoulder," he murmured.

"Either way, both he and Liam do not hold high opinions of him. They say he’s bad news and not what he appears to be."

"Yes, but did they actually tell you what he had done to deserve that opinion? Because Harry seemed very unwilling to share that rather vital information with me before storming out of the room. From what I could tell, his being a waiter only added to his offences! Which were what exactly? Having to work to make ends meet?" Louis tried to relax his hands, which had clenched into fists during his slight tirade and focused on his breathing. "Listen. I'm getting together with James tonight. I can get his side of things and go from there, okay?"

Zayn sighed. "Just don't be so cruel to Harry. From what Liam was saying, he's had some really hard personal things going on in the past and they're catching up to him. And don't jump into anything with James, either. I don't want you getting hurt."

Louis smiled, genuinely. He really did have the best mate anyone could ask for. "Thanks, love. I'll try."

~~~~~

Louis had been in debate the entire day leading up to his...well, he thinks it could be counted as a date...with James as to whether he should bring up Harry and their apparent shared background or whether he should just let it go.  In the end, he shouldn’t have worried.

James had decided that after treating them to some ice cream, they should take advantage of the oddly sunny weather for Yorkshire and take a walk through a nearby woods.  Louis was pleased with how it was going so far, since James had been quite attentive yet not overbearing.  They were basically flirting nonstop, making licking their ice cream more seductive than it probably should be.

They had just finished eating their cones and finished up talking about Louis’ teaching position when what seemed like out of nowhere James asked, “So, what brought you to learn that Harry Styles is a dick?”

Louis nearly stumbled in his surprise, but James was ready for it apparently since his hand was steady on Louis’ elbow within seconds.  Louis shot him a grateful smile, before making sure to watch the path so he didn’t repeat his misstep.

“Uh, nothing spectacular, really.  Just made a comment that wounded my pride a bit and I can’t be having that, can I?”  Louis tried to play it off as a joke and shot another grin towards James before trying to walk nonchalantly a bit closer to James than he had been before.  “What about you?  The other night Harry seemed to imply you had some unsavory history between the two of you.”

James pulled a face before chuckling.  “I’m sure he did, though why he dislikes me so much, I’ve no idea.  It should be me who is so offended by him rather than the other way around.”  He then looked around a bit before continuing.  "It's a long story, but basically I was living in Manchester trying to get my music going.  You know, playing pubs and the like as I told you earlier.  At one of my regular gigs I ran into Harry's older sister, Gemma.  She's stunning...I mean, she's got nothing on you, but she really is beautiful."  
  
Louis nodded his understanding with a smile and indicated that James could continue.  
  
"Anyway, we hit it off right away.  Harry, as I'm sure you've guessed, didn't approve from the beginning.  Luckily, that didn't stop Gemma and it was the best six months.  We were talking about moving in together when she got pregnant."  
  
Louis' eyes widened in shock.  He was expecting a lot of things, but pregnancy was not one of them.  He realized they had stopped walking so Louis turned in order to be able to study James' face.  He looked torn, distraught, and frustrated.  
  
"We weren't expecting it, you see.  We'd used protection, but obviously that hadn't been enough.  Anyway, whatever it was, we were both ecstatic.  I had always wanted kids, and she felt the same way, even if it was earlier than we'd expected.  Gems wanted to keep it quiet for a bit, since she knew how disapproving not only Harry would be, but Anne also."  James' eyes flickered to the ground as he swallowed and cleared his throat.  "After the first trimester illness took hold, Harry figured out what was going on.  He threatened that he would cut Gemma off from everything her parents had set up for her and cut all ties I had worked so hard for with my music should I continue on with her.  To help not only myself, but to protect her, I had to do what I thought was best and leave.  I came here because I have a friend who said I could pull myself together while living with him for a bit, but it killed me.  I had to change my number and everything, so I have no idea how the child is doing, or Gemma, or what she thinks of me and what I did..."  
  
At that moment, it seemed too overwhelming for James and he gripped his hair as he turned around and walked away for a minute before turning back.  He took several deep breaths, and Louis couldn't stop himself from reaching out towards the poor man.  He seemed to truly care about Gemma and was going to be blessed with a child, and Harry had cut him off from that!  What kind of a sick bastard did that?  Anger shot up through Louis to the point where he wasn't sure he would even be able to hear Harry's name without wanting to curse the man to the moon and back.  
  
"James...I don't even know what to say.  I'm so very sorry.  I can't even imagine..."  Louis rubbed James’ arm as he tried to compose himself again.  He gave a weak smile and placed his hand on top of Louis'.  
  
"Thanks, Lou.  I'm sorry I dumped all of that on you, but you're the first person I've really been able to talk to about it.  I just wonder about Gem and the baby, you know?"  
  
"I can't believe someone would be so cruel as to do that, not only to you but their own sister!  I don't care if i didn't agree with their choice of man, if one of my sisters got pregnant with someone, I'd do all I could to help them!  Especially if it was what they wanted!"  
  
Louis just shook his head.  He couldn't imagine doing something like that to Lottie or Fizz.  He would likely go after anyone who tried to take away something or someone they truly loved. Their dad might be an idiot, but he never wished harm on any of them.  The worst he did was imply they should be looking amongst the kind of people they were not interested in for a future husband.  
  
"Well, I think deep down he really was trying to do what he thought was best, but it doesn't mean he's not an arse," James tried to chuckle out.  
  
"Mmm," Louis hummed while raising his brows and trying to hold back an eyeroll.  He wasn't so sure Harry was worth the benefit of the doubt based upon his experience.  "Let's talk about something a bit more cheerful, hmm?"  
  
James smiled at him and they continued on their walk.  
  
~~~~~

  
"And then he basically forced James out of Manchester leaving both him and Gemma without a good way to communicate with each other at all!  Zayn, how can you still think he isn't a right bastard?"  Louis was pacing their living room as Zayn continued to munch on the chicken tikka masala he had made a few days before.  Louis' was also sitting on the coffee table, but he'd been so distraught retelling everything he had learned about Harry that he couldn't keep still, much less eat.  Plus the ice cream had apparently been more filling than he expected.  
  
"Mate, there's obviously bad blood between them, but while you were out I asked Liam for more information."

Louis froze where he was and turned toward Zayn. He was chewing his dinner instead of talking, so to try and hurry him up Louis waved his hand around and prompted, "And he said..."

With a roll of the eyes, Zayn swallowed and continued. "He didn't feel it was his right to give much information, but he did say that whatever it was that happened, Harry was definitely not the one in the wrong and has a right to be more than angry."

Louis huffed and threw himself onto the couch beside his best friend. "Of course he's on Harry's side, I just don't see how they could twist the story so much as to make them seem like the good guys!"

Zayn turned a fierce look on Louis.

"Okay, fine. To make Harry seem like the good guy," Louis amended. Zayn nodded in thanks before continuing to eat.

"I just don't think this James is any good, and that's all I'm going to say," Zayn finished.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Louis muttered.

~~~~~

“Lou, please, I really need you here to supervise.  Lizzie’s gone into labor nearly 6 weeks early and I have to be there to take care of her and make sure the baby is okay, I’m sure you understand that, don’t you?”

Louis sighed.  Of course he understood, he just wasn’t happy about it.  He and James were planning on going out for the third time in two weeks and Louis had been, up to this point, hopeful that he might actually get some action.  With his mom, the best midwife in the region, being called out on the night of Daisy and Phoebe’s annual beginning of summer party and his dad leaving that night for a fishing trip he had planned specifically so he wouldn’t be home when the teenage girls descended on the house. It left Louis as the one most likely required to go and be able to keep a firm foot down to ensure total chaos was avoided.

“Yeah, I know, Mum.  It’s alright.  Are Fizz and Lottie going to be there as well?”

“Fizz will for a bit, but she has...erm...oh, you know darling, something important that she couldn’t get out of, but Lottie should be there the entire time to help you out,” Jay’s voice was slightly tinny on the old phone, but he could still hear the warmth in it as she tried to comfort him regarding his fate.  “How soon can you be here?”

Louis checked his watch and saw it was already 5pm, with the party supposedly getting started with pizza at 6pm.  “Give me enough time to call James and get that all worked out, then I should be able to come on over.  Should I bring my overnight bag, or are the guests going home tonight?”

“All but two are going home tonight, so Lottie and Fizzie should be able to handle them no problem, no need for you to stay.  Lou?”

“Hmm?”

Louis could hear his mum breathing as she seemed to pull together her words for him.  “Feel free to invite James, I know how much you were looking forward to spending time with him.  I’m really sorry to push this on you, but I just wasn’t sure…” she trailed off, but Louis knew exactly what she was saying.

“No, it’s fine.  Definitely better it’s me at the house than dad.”

She chuckled a bit.  “Thank you, love.  The girls will be waiting as will written instructions for the remaining things to be done.  Love you, Boobear.”

Louis groaned.  She knew how much he hated that nickname, which honestly was probably why she continued to use it.  “Love you too, Mum.  Good luck with Lizzie and the baby.”

They rang off and Louis stared at his phone.  He wished Zayn was there to complain to, but he had begged off earlier saying he might not be back that night, but refused to say where he would be instead.  He pulled up the chat he kept open with James since they were basically texting nonstop these days.

_Hey, so my mum got called into work and needs me to supervise a party full of teenage girls with my sister...interested in joining the fun or should we just reschedule tonight’s plans?_

Louis was honestly quite torn which he would prefer at this point.  He really wanted to spend time with James, it had been several days now since they had physically seen each other, but all of that time surrounded by teenage girls...it was just asking for something disastrous to happen.  As he changed into something a bit more suitable for a house party rather than the dinner and night hike that was the original plan, Louis’ phone pinged with the text tone for James.

_A house full of teenage girls for the evening doesn’t sound scary at all… I think we can take them on._

Louis felt excitement zing up in his belly as he sent James the details about when and where before he quickly finished getting ready and drove over to his parents’.

~~~~~

"Fizz! Could you please get the last batch of whatever the hell is in the oven out before it burns! I'm a bit busy here!" Louis called from where he was attempting to balance several large pitchers filled with cold squash on his way to the serving table in the other room. Of course, that was the moment the doorbell rang.

"Oh for fuck's sake," he muttered to himself. "Lotts?? Please get the door, I think the pizza is here! And Fizzy, did you hear me? The oven timer is still going off!" Louis' tone was getting louder and more frantic as his arms began to shake even more and he feared he would lose one of the pitchers. He hurried even faster and made it to the table just in time for his arms to give out and disaster to be averted.

Louis was shaking his arms out in an attempt to be able to use them again when he heard the oven beep again.

"Bloody hell, where the fuck did everyone go? You'd think this was my party," Louis mumbled as he ran to pull the tray out before it burned. Which is of course when the doorbell rang again. "WHERE IS EVERYONE, AND WHY AM I DOING THIS ALONE?" Louis yelled as he headed for the door. He yanked it open and was surprised to see James there .

Louis leaned against the doorframe and looked up through his messy fringe. "Well, hello. I didn't expect you to get here for at least another hour or so," Louis said in what he hoped was a flirty tone. He seemed to be doing something right, based on the look on James' face.

"Lou! Why do you keep yelling at us? We're just trying to get ready up here!" Louis heard from behind him. He rolled his eyes at James before waving him inside and turning to face Lottie.

"I'm yelling because I'm single handedly setting up a party I myself was never supposed to attend while all you lovely ladies who mum said were supposed to assist me with all this hide upstairs to cake makeup on your faces!"

Louis' arms flailed a bit in an attempt to convey to Lottie and now Fizzy just how frustrating this entire thing had been for him. He heard a snort from the direction James was in and he turned a glare toward him.

"You have no idea, so don't even start with me, mate," Louis warned.

"See, Lou? James knows how these things go, obviously. Calm your tits and tell us what more needs to be done now that we're ready," Fizzy said as she reached the landing.

"Just, I don't even know. You and Lottie finish up while I relax for a minute before the heathens arrive."

"They're just 14 year old girls, Lou. Cut them some slack," Lottie admonished before disappearing into the kitchen.

"It's the same bloody thing!" he called after her. Turning to James, he grabbed his arm, gave him a quick kiss, and said, "I'm so glad you're here so I won't be all alone in this tonight."

They made their way into the lounge and Louis snuggled up into James' side on the sofa.

"You seem to have it handled well enough, I'm honestly not sure I'll be much help tonight."

"Just your presence will help me retain some sanity, I'm sure," Louis confided.

~~~~~

Four hours later and while Louis is glad for James' willingness to be there, he is honestly wondering if he should have just stayed well enough away.

At first he had just wanted to talk more about the entire Gemma and Harry mess which, yeah, fair enough, Harry's a twat who royally screwed them over and Louis was the first person he had told the full story to...but then he had taken to monopolizing Fizzy and then Lottie with his epic tale of woe, and honestly, how much pity did one lad need?

Whereas the 14 year old girls seemed to be making a bigger mess of Louis' mum's house than the 7 year olds he remembered flocking to previous parties and how was that even possible? Now that Fizzy had left for her "event" (Louis was quite positive it was actually a date) and Lottie was busy flirting with James, Louis had to mop up countless spills and even calmed a crying 13 year old who felt she had been shafted. Louis deserved a fucking medal. And sleep.

Louis ran and ran and ran, constantly being pulled to one so called emergency after another in an attempt to make sure that Daisy and Phoebe thoroughly enjoyed their night, and it seemed they did. When girls finally began to leave and things were calming down, Louis threw himself between Lottie and James, who were still seated in the exact same place on the couch they had been hours before, if not a bit closer. Thanks for the help, Charlotte. Really.

"Jamie, I need sleep," Louis whined as he leaned his head onto James' shoulder. "I'm exhausted. Who knew teenage girls could be even worse than I thought?"

"Oi! We aren't all bad, ya dickhead!" Lottie cried as she swiped at Louis' hair.

"Leave a man's hair be, don't you know that by now?" Louis reprimanded as he dodged away from her.

James just laughed. Rude.

"Lotts, I have quite literally done all of the work tonight. Please say you can handle the rest on your own so our dear James can take me home?" Louis looked at his sister with his eyes wide and pleading, cheesy smile plastered on his face.

"Ugh, fine, get your sorry arse home, old man," she teased.

Louis squawked as James helped pull him off the couch. "How very dare you!"

At that, James looped his arm around Louis' shoulder and guided him to the door past the remaining girls.

"Bye, Dais! Bye, Phoebs! Hope you had a good night," Louis waved as they walked out the door and toward Louis' car. "Wait, how did you get here if you didn't drive?" Louis knew James lived on the other side of town and he wouldn't want to walk that far himself.

At that, James got a bit bashful before turning to Louis and biting his lip.

"Well, I had my roommate drop me off, because while this wasn't exactly a date, I was still kinda hoping that I might be able to maybe see your place?"

Louis sighed in relief. "Thank fuck!" He whispered before surging up and kissing James fully. "Get into the car so we can get home and you can fuck me."

James dropped one last kiss on Louis' lips before hurrying to the passenger side. Louis' dry spell looked to finally be over.

~~~~~

Louis woke up the next day to the front door slamming shut.

He groaned and began to move before wincing a bit and lying still. They might have gone a bit faster through the prep than they should have,  with as long as Louis’ dry spell had been and apparently James liked it rough on top of that, so he was definitely feeling it today.

When he finally did roll over though, instead of finding warmth on the other side, it was cold. Louis' eyebrows pulled together and he sat up despite the pain. It wasn't late enough for James to have to get to work already or even be getting ready for it, so now Louis was wondering if he only stayed until Louis was asleep before skipping out.

Trying to remain optimistic, he hoped he might find a note or a text on his mobile or something. As he hobbled around his room and managed to pull on a pair of boxers, he heard rustling in the living area. Right, the door woke him up. Maybe he had just run out to grab some breakfast or something.

Louis opened the door and walked toward the kitchen where the noise seemed to be coming from and found Zayn instead.

"Oh. Hey, Zee." Louis leaned against the doorframe, not that excited about sitting down on their hard kitchen chairs in his state.

"Don't sound so excited, bro," Zayn teased. "I haven't seen you in a few days and that's all you can scrounge up for your best mate? Who did some grocery shopping because he knew you avoid it as much as possible?"

Louis did manage a bit of a smile at that. Rather than addressing the question himself, Louis turned it around on Zayn. "That's a good point you make, actually. Where have you been the last several days?"

At that Zayn blushed and continued putting groceries away.

"Ooh, that quiet, huh? My guess is with a certain rich businessman then," Louis teased.

"Well he and Harry are leaving soon so we wanted to spend as much time together as possible before he went back to Manchester," Zayn explained.

Louis hummed to himself with a smile as he went to turn on the kettle and prepare his tea. At the questioning that followed though, he really should have just stayed where he was.

"Ooh, judging by the way you're walking it seems you had an eventful night! Did Tommo get some?"

"Maybe," Louis smirked before turning back to the kettle. When Zayn didn't go for his hook he sighed and turned to him once his tea was brewing. "Fine. Yes I did. I didn't get this sore from a toy!"

Zayn chuckled. Louis rolled his eyes then finished prepping his tea and made his way to the couch and settled down gingerly on the cushions. He was finally enjoying it when Zayn sat down beside him, his own tea in hand.

"Well? Aren't you going to tell me about it like you always do?"

That was all Louis needed to spill almost everything.

"Zayny, I just really like James so much and I feel like there might actually be something between us and the sex was so good. I just...I really like him, Zee, and it seems like for once he really likes me too. I mean he spent the entire party last night chatting with my sisters. Most guys freak when they learn how many I have but he just settled down and started getting to know them! How great is that?" Louis finally stopped and leaned his head against the back of the couch.

Zayn seemed to take in Louis for a moment before sipping his tea and speaking. "So where is he this morning? I'm assuming not still asleep if you're talking this openly and not making him tea as well?"

Louis had about a half second debate before he decided not to tell Zayn about waking up alone unexpectedly. He knew Zayn already didn't approve of James and if he knew that he had left without understanding the reason that Louis was sure existed behind it then Zayn would go into his protective mother hen mode, and Louis really wasn't in the mood.

"He had somewhere to be pretty early so he couldn't stay," Louis decided to go with. Seemed safe enough as it was likely true.

"I can't tell you what to do, but please be careful. I don't like feeling like he used you because you're barely able to sit and he couldn't even stay the night," Zayn said softly. When Louis didn't respond and instead continued to just sip his tea, Zayn wrapped his arm around Louis' shoulders and pulled him into his side. "I just really love you and want you to find a guy who deserves you, you know that, right?"

Louis nodded. "Yeah. I know. Love you too."

~~~~~~

Louis' phone turned out to not have any texts from James waiting for him.

None came the rest of that day either.

He attempted to start up their usual conversations, but at first all he would get would be short answers and, after a couple of weeks, the responses stopped coming altogether.

About a week after the last text he had received, Louis was feeling frustrated and used. He tried calling James to give him an earful, but found his number had been changed. Louis stopped by the restaurant only to learn that he had quit unexpectedly a couple of days before because he had told them he was moving to London after he had been able to set up some gigs, or so the gossipy hostess told him.

Between Louis now feeling embarrassed beyond belief that he had fallen for whatever it was James had laid out for him, and Zayn moping because Liam was back in Manchester, their flat was completely depressing. In the weeks that followed, Louis took to hanging out with his family and helping run his sisters around town to give his mum some relief and to help distract himself from his wounded pride.

Not that it really helped.

He still ate his dinner in his room while Zayn ate in his, each wallowing in their own way. Louis could hear the mumbles of Zayn talking to Liam almost nonstop on the phone at night while Louis binge watched Gilmore Girls and Friends on Netflix. It didn't help release the sick feeling that had taken residence within him ever since the night he had slept with James, but it helped him at least be able to sleep and not dream about him as much.

And maybe he had taken to writing everything down he wanted to say to James and then ripping it up in an attempt to feel like he had gotten the chance to at least tell him what a complete arse he was, but he'd never admit that to anyone.

~~~~~

This was a disaster.

All of it.  Everything.  The entire fucking day was a bloody mess and of course it was day two of Zayn going missing and not being around when Louis needed him and where the hell did he think he could run off to for that long without telling Louis anyway?  Not that Louis needed to know his whereabouts at all times but in case of emergencies, like the one he was currently embroiled in, it would be fucking nice to know where the bloody git was so he could help.

Louis continued to frantically turn knobs and push buttons on the washing machine in an attempt to get it to stop making the horrible noises and he really really REALLY needed it to stop spewing bubbles everywhere.  If it leaked through into their neighbor’s flat below....well, neither Zayn or Louis had the funds currently to pay for that kind of damage.  Especially when it wasn’t his fault that the washing machine was possessed.  It was getting rather old, it had been a hand-me-down from Zayn’s cousin’s girlfriend’s parents, but they weren’t going to be picky and it had lasted them the past 4 years no problem...until now.  When Zayn had decided to go MIA.  Bastard.

Finally, Louis recalled the switch on the wall that he was fairly sure led to the power for the machine.  He shuffled through the bubbles on the floor, trying not to slip, and swiped at the wall until he finally found it.  He had no sooner hit the switch when all the noises stopped and the bubbles stopped multiplying.  Thank God.

He swept his fringe off his forehead with a damp arm before straightening up, surveying the full damage, and immediately left the room.  He grabbed his phone (still no messages or calls from Zayn...honestly, where was he?) and keys, and promptly left the flat.

He had tried everyone he could think of who might know anything about what to do with the mess he had made, but everyone was either on holiday or not answering their phones.  Couldn’t they tell when Louis was in distress?  The only person he knew for sure was still in town, and also might have the wherewithal to help, was Stan.

Stan worked at Styles Business Management which was, thankfully, just around the corner from where Louis lived, but they also had the unfortunate rule of no mobiles on the work floor.  Louis had gotten into the habit of simply stopping by whenever he needed to talk to him during the day, and with an emergency like this he couldn’t think of any other options.

Louis once again had to flick his slightly damp hair out of his face as he walked and began regretting a: not putting on shoes before leaving and b: not changing out of his sudsy trackies.  He was definitely not adequately dressed for their posh office, but really, was there a dress code for an emergency like this?  He was in the middle of his washing when it all went wrong in the first place.  Certainly Peppa, the receptionist, wouldn’t give him hell before allowing him back to Stan’s desk.

Louis was focused on checking how soiled his trousers looked when he pushed through the door and immediately walked into someone.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, mate,” Louis cried as he reached out his hands to steady himself against the man.  He looked up and saw that it was, of course, Harry.  As if the day couldn’t get any worse.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use that kind of language in our office, Louis,” Harry chided before taking in his, admittedly ratty as well as sopping, outfit.  “How can I help you?”

“Well, surprisingly enough, I’m actually not here for you,” Louis snapped before running his hand through his hair and sighing.  He really should still be coolly polite and not outright rude, considering one of his good mates worked for the guy.  He looked up and saw Harry arching a brow in his direction.  “Sorry, it’s just...today’s been a right mess and I just really need Stan because I’m hoping he can help me with an emergency. And when did you get back into town? I thought you left the same time as Liam.”

Harry’s face cleared and turned into one of regret.  “I did, but am back for a few days to finish up a few things we weren't able to before. And Stan is actually not in right now, he is at a lunch meeting I sent him to with some potential clients.  Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Shit,” Louis muttered before remembering Harry’s request to hold back on the expletives while there.  “Sorry.  Uh, no, not really.  Unless you somehow know how to fix a likely evil washing machine that is spewing bubbles everywhere while making horribly loud noises.”

“Actually…” Harry said as he checked his watch.  Of course it was a Rolex.  Fucker had to not only have money but flaunt it as well.  “I was about to leave for the day and I am rather handy with a toolbox, so if you’re okay with it I’m more than willing to take a look for you.”

Before Louis could reconsider, he found the question, “Why?” flying out of his mouth.  He rolled his eyes at himself before clarifying so as not to offend Harry further when he could potentially save Louis from his soap filled nightmare at the flat.  “I mean, why would you be willing to help me?”

Harry’s brows furrowed together.  “Why wouldn’t I?  You’re in need of assistance and I have the skills required as well as an open afternoon.  I’m unsure as to your confusion.”

“Mate, you’ve acted like you outright hate me as well as others I know!  I think my question is fair.”

Harry groaned in frustration. "As if you haven't treated me the same way since you met me. In fact I think you've actually gotten worse!" he argued. "But that's fine. If I'm that deplorable, without having really done anything to deserve that opinion from you by the way, then you can wait for Stan to become available."

Harry passed Louis and walked out the door when Louis seemed to comprehend he was losing the only help available to him at the moment. He quickly jogged out behind Harry and called, probably overloudly, "Wait!"

Harry stopped in front of a ridiculously new Range Rover that Louis honestly should have known belonged to him.

"I know I've been a tosser, in my opinion you deserved it, but if you really are willing despite that to help me I'm in no position to turn you down. So please? Help me?"

Louis nervously bounced on the balls of his feet, which caused Harry to look down, bringing a look of confusion to his face.

"Louis, why are you barefoot?"

And...right. In his surprise at running into Harry he had forgotten about that detail.

"Uh, well, I only live around the corner and, like I said, it's a bit of an emergency and I don't really care for shoes anyway so..." Louis forced himself to stop rambling and just shrugged. He didn't really know what else to say, and Harry would likely never understand even if he did.

"Right. Well in that case, jump on in and I'll drive us there."

Louis stood on the pavement and watched Harry climb in, still reeling from the unexpected turn in his day. It wasn't until Harry started the car, giving him a pointed glance before waving at the passenger seat, that Louis scuttled to the other side and got in himself.

Louis directed Harry the entire two turns it took to get to their complex before realizing the state of the flat that they were about to walk into.  He and Zayn weren’t total slobs, but he was guessing that Harry was probably better at cleaning than either of them were.  Luckily, as far as Louis could remember, it was rather tidy at the moment.

He led Harry up and opened the door, ushering the other man in.  Harry immediately removed his shoes and socks then began to roll up his sleeves.  “Don’t suppose you have a pair of joggers I could borrow, so I don’t soak these?”

Louis blushed, but nodded.  Blushing?  Really?  What was wrong with him today?  “Uh, yeah.  I mean, they’ll probably be pretty short on you, but I’ve got some.  This way,” he offered before heading to his room.  

He blushed even more when he realized his bed was still unmade and he had a fair few piles of clothes still waiting to be washed around the room.  Then again, he shouldn’t be judged for this really because he had been trying to fix that very problem when this whole situation arose.  He walked to his drawers and dug around for an extra pair and found some that actually belonged to one of Lottie’s ex-boyfriends who was tall like Harry.  Hopefully they would work.  

He turned around to hand them to Harry and found him with his work trousers already folded on Louis’ bed, waiting for the joggers in just his briefs.  And...well...okay.

Louis came back to himself and made sure to close his mouth that had somehow fallen open at the sight of Harry’s ridiculously long and horribly perfect looking legs as Harry reached out for the joggers in Louis’ hands.  He passed them over and turned around to give Harry privacy he apparently didn’t feel he needed.  As he walked back out of the room he heard Harry chuckling quietly which just made Louis more frustrated about his uncontrollable blushing.

When did he get like this?  He didn’t blush!  This entire day had been the biggest mess, it had just thrown Louis off, is all.  He growled to himself and grabbed the miniature toolbox that he had honestly forgotten they had until that day, in the hopes that there might actually be something useful inside, and stalked back to the laundry.  Which was still completely wet and filled with bubbles on the floor.  Excellent.

Louis was standing there staring when Harry cleared his throat, peeking around him.

“So, uh, how exactly did this start?”

Louis threw his arms in the air and started the rant he had probably been holding in since he heard the noises start.  “I was just doing my laundry and was on the second load of the day when I suddenly heard this crazy loud almost pinging noise?  It sounded like when you have something with metallic buttons on them but MUCH louder, almost like there was an entire metal ball inside the machine?  When I came in to check it out, bubbles were covering the floor and continued coming out and the noises kept getting worse and nothing I was doing was helping and Zayn wasn’t answering his phone, he’s usually the one to take care of these things, and now he’s going to get back and kill me because the washing machine is possessed and it isn’t even my fault!  And if it leaks down to the flat below, there’s no way either of us can pay for that and I just don’t know what to do, Harry!  How do I fix this?!”  

Louis took a deep breath before gripping his hair and biting his lip.  It was only then he realized that Harry was soothingly stroking his back...and...when did that start?  Or more importantly, why?  Louis gently shuffled away, feeling a bit awkward about that moment between them.  After all, he hated Harry, right?  Or, at least disliked him for sure.  

Louis was pulled back from his thoughts when Harry finally spoke.

"Well, I think our first course of action should definitely be clearing the bubbles and then I can see if I can figure out what is wrong with the machine itself," he explained.

Louis snorted. "You sound like you're giving me an itinerary for one of your fancy business meetings."

Harry smiled and chuckled a bit to himself before rubbing the back of his neck. His green eyes flicked to Louis' before apologizing.

"Yeah, sorry. I've been kinda living at work, whether I like it or not, for the past year or so and it's kinda hard to break from now."

"That's fine," Louis shrugged. "Just so long as you don't mind me doing lesson prep in the other room once we get to the technical stuff."

Harry had already found the linen closet and pulled all of the towels that Louis and Zayn owned and handed one to Louis so they could get started on mopping up the floor and walls.

"Lesson plans?"

Louis nodded as he continued to wipe his side of the small room. "Yeah, I teach at a local college and the school year starts back up soon so I have to make sure I have my lesson plans ready. One of the major things I was hoping to get done before this monster took over my afternoon."

Louis heard a soft, "Shh, it's okay. He doesn't mean that," from Harry and he paused what he was doing.

"Harold."

"That's not my name," Harry responded, still not looking at Louis.

"Harold," Louis tried again and Harry looked up at him. "Why were you talking to the devil machine?"

"No wonder she started acting how she did, if you always talk about her like that!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes wide and face serious.

Oh my god. He was being serious! Who was this guy?

"Well, I didn't call her mean names until after she started doing this!" Louis defended. Why he needed to was beyond him. This entire situation was beyond ridiculous.

"So you're a teacher?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I teach English and Drama."

Harry let out a knowing, "Ohhh, that makes sense," which had Louis pausing in his soapy progress.

"What does that mean?"

Harry's head snapped up at Louis' possibly too harsh tone, eyes wide. "Oh! Nothing like that, just you have a large personality and it is well suited to Drama, I would think. Your students probably love you."

And damn. Louis could feel his cheeks getting red again.

"I dunno about that, but thanks."

They quietly went about finishing mopping up the floor and when that was done, tossed the wet towels into a bag so they didn't wet anything else awaiting its turn in the wash.

Harry then set to work, exploring the inner workings of the machine, so Louis told him to call if he needed anything and went back to the kitchen table where his school things were set up.

Louis had just finished prepping his two Drama classes and was about to get started on his first English class' syllabus when the noises and Harry’s soft murmurings, that had regularly been spilling from the adjacent room, quieted. Louis checked the clock and realized it was now about time for dinner. Harry had been working for at least a couple of hours, and Louis had been completely ignoring him.  He was basically the worst host ever.

He was about to go into the room when he heard the washing machine start back up again.

“Oh my God, Harry!  Did you fix it?”

A poor, worse for wear Harry turned with a proud smile on his face.  And...was that a scarf in his hair?  where did he find a scarf to hold his hair back?  At Louis’ confused look, the smile dropped off Harry’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh,” Louis startled.  “Nothing, I was just wondering where you got the scarf?”

Harry blushed.  “It’s actually just my tie.  My hair was getting in the way and today was of course the day I forgot my hair tie and I remembered that back in 6th form my mates used to mess about and use our uniform ties to hold my hair back, so I figured it could work again.  It probably looks ridiculous.”

Louis gave a smile as Harry reached up to undo it now that he was done.  “Not completely horrible.”

Harry returned the smile, before the machine went to a spin cycle, startling him and reminding both of them why they were there in the first place.

“So, yes!  It took me awhile, but I do believe I managed to breathe some life back into her for you, so hopefully she will run well for awhile.  Do you mind if I return the joggers to you later?  I don’t want to ruin my nice trousers now that I’m pretty gross.”

“Oh!  Yeah, that’s fine.  You can keep them, actually.  They were Lottie’s prick of an ex-boyfriend’s and if they fit you they will likely get more use with you than with me,” Louis offered.  

They were making their way back to Louis’ room to gather Harry’s things and Louis had just opened his mouth to ask how he could repay him for his help when Harry began to speak.

“So have you heard anything from Zayn?  Liam’s been mostly radio silent for me, but I figured they would love their stay in Scotland.”

Which...wait.  What?

“Scotland?” Louis questioned, completely frozen in his tracks.  “With Liam?”  

Honestly, that would make sense, but why would Zayn keep it from him?  And why would Harry know but not Louis?  And...Scotland?  Zayn hated cold weather and it might be August now, but this was Scotland.  It never really gets warm in Scotland.

“Yeah, they’re staying at my mum’s favorite bed and breakfast up near Inverness.  Didn’t you know?”

Louis stayed quiet for a time and Harry began to ramble, perhaps in some form of nervousness for revealing a secret he didn’t mean to.

“Sorry, I just figured you’d know about it.  I had just assumed that Zayn hadn’t traveled much and he would probably be excited, even if it was just a trip to Inverness, and with that excitement probably would have talked to you about it...you two do seem rather close...and don’t people usually get excited about travel?  Even to someplace like northern Scotland?  I mean, it does seem to get a bit of a bad rep, only known for gray skies and the dreary moors, but it’s really quite lovely this time of year, and…”

“Harry,” Louis interrupted.  He really needed to if Harry was going to continue on this way, especially since Louis hadn’t heard much past the second line.  “Why would you just assume that Zayn hadn’t traveled much?”

Harry, for some reason, looked relieved at that question.  He really shouldn’t.

“Well, he had mentioned that money was a bit tight growing up and I had just assumed that his salary as a primary school art teacher wouldn’t allow him much for holidays, so I figured Liam would be able to treat him to something nice he probably hadn’t had a chance to experience before in addition to giving them some time to be alone.”

And he had the gall to say that with a proud smile on his face.  What the fuck was this guy on?

“You just assumed that because he had mentioned that he grew up with all of his sisters in a smaller house that money was tight enough to not afford them any kind of luxury like a holiday?”

“Well…”

“And then,” Louis interrupted again.  He was really getting angry now, and could feel himself losing his temper.  “Just because he does something you consider as lowly as teaching art to children he cannot afford to take even a small trip from time to time himself?  Not even somewhere like Inverness?”

“Louis, I…”

“No, Harry.  Listen to me,” Louis seethed.  “Those of us in the lower ranks might not have the money to afford such things as Rolex watches or Range Rovers or month long holidays in the south of France, but I can promise you that we don’t live as beggars who need to find rich boyfriends to ensure we can experience a few niceties of life!”

“That’s not what I was saying at all!  You’re so wrapped up in your own little world that you don’t even give me a chance to explain myself!”  Harry’s cheeks were starting to become a bit blotched as he grew frustrated as well.  It seemed Harry didn’t take to being yelled at very well.

That just seemed to egg Louis on.  “What needs to be explained?!  You obviously feel yourself, and your precious Liam, to be above Zayn and I!  I’m surprised you are even allowing their relationship to continue at all, considering how you view us!”

“How I…?  You’ve got your head stuck up your arse, haven’t you?”  Harry finally grabbed his things from Louis’ bed and just about bowled Louis over as he attempted to reach the front door.

Louis followed closely behind.  “And a mighty fine arse it is too!” he yelled.

Harry scoffed.  “You wish.  You’re welcome for the help, by the way, you ungrateful twat!”

“I was going to offer to share take-out, but you can pay for your own lonely meal, dickhead!”  Harry gave one last glare after pulling on his shoes and socks hastily and opened the door to let himself out.  Right before the door slammed shut, Louis yelled after him, “And my ass is perfection!”

~~~~~

Once Louis had finally cooled down over the feelings of betrayal, Louis sent a one word text to Zayn. Ironically enough, after three and a half days of radio silence and wondering where the hell he had run off to, that one little text was what finally got Zayn to respond.

_Scotland???_

It was two wash-loads later as Louis was folding some laundry that he got the response, but at least he finally answered.

_How the fuck did you find out? No one, not even my mum, knows where we are._

Louis rolled his eyes. Of course there's no, "Sorry for worrying you, Louis," or "I didn't mean to not tell you," or "Hey, you didn't die after sending me those 57 thousand SOS texts after all!" Just a demand of how he came across the information.

_And with Liam?_

Louis saw no point in giving him easy information when Zayn wasn't really offering anything himself. He continued folding but the response this time came much faster.

_Yeah._

_Enjoy the holiday. And be safe._

All he got in return were some heart emojis and a slice of pizza.

~~~~~

Louis had just closed the door having returned from shopping with his arms full when he heard Zayn call out from his room.

"Hey, Lou? We have to talk."

Louis rolled his eyes. "Hi, Lou! How you doing? How has the past week been without me? Did you survive the washing machine disaster? I missed you! I love you! Sorry I ignored you!" he practically sang as he deposited the bags he carried on the counter. When he turned around, Zayn was standing guiltily  in the doorway.

"I did miss you, and I do love you, and while I'm not really sorry I ignored you because I was doing that for a reason, I am sorry I didn't tell you where I was going. It was kind of a surprise and...I'll explain all of that later. Let me put this away, and then we really do need to talk." When Louis smiled, Zayn's creased eyebrows relaxed and he wrapped his arms around Louis' shoulders.

Louis helped put the food away so they could get to talking faster. Zayn especially knew how impatient Louis could be, and nothing he was doing could make Zayn talk faster than just finishing the chore.

When they both grabbed a beer and had settled onto the couch, Louis turned towards his best friend who, over the summer, had been slowly growing more and more distant.

Louis realized with a start that Zayn's hair was now past his ears. When had it grown that long? How had he not noticed it? And had he expanded his hand tattoo? Louis always went with him when he did that. How did they grow so far apart so fast?

"Lou, I got a position with a museum in Manchester."

Louis' eyes snapped up to Zayn's to find him looking sheepish and somewhat guilty.

"Wha...a museum? In Manchester? When...when did you go for this? When did you interview? How did I not know anything about this?"

Zayn bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "Well I heard about it back in April. I went ahead and applied even though it was a long shot. I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I didn't tell anyone. When I didn't hear anything, I thought that was that and just forgot about it."

He paused to take a drink.

"When did you hear back from them?" Louis questioned quietly.

"About a month ago," Zayn said hesitantly.

Louis' eyes widened and his jaw went slack. "A month?!"

"Yeah," Zayn confirmed, but reached a hand out to placate Louis. "But it was just for first interviews and it sounded like they had pulled a large amount and I didn't know what my chances were so I still didn't want to really get my hopes up. But then they called me for a second interview..."

"And a job offer," Louis concluded.

Zayn nodded. Louis looked across the room at their entertainment center that was strewn with belongings the both of them had acquired through their years of living together.

"So when do you start?"

"Well, I haven't exactly accepted the position yet."

Louis turned his head back to Zayn so fast that he felt it crick.

"What? Why not? You obviously really want it!"

Zayn set his beer down on the table and turned to Louis fully.

"I know I do, but this won't be my only chance. I just, I had to talk to you about it first. Make sure you'd be okay with me leaving."

Louis could feel his eyes welling up. He really didn't deserve a friend as devoted as Zayn.

"You've had a bit of a rough time lately, I know that James messed with you more than you want to let on, and here I would be leaving you as well and moving in with my boyfriend to start my perfect job..."

Zayn trailed off and wiped a rogue tear that had escaped down Louis' face. Louis smiled softly and said, "Boyfriend? Liam asked you to move in with him?"

A wide grin spread across Zayn's face, causing the boy to nearly glow.

"He did, yeah."

Louis couldn't hold back any longer. He flew forward and tackled Zayn in a hug on the seat cushions of the couch.

"You bloody well better call that museum and tell them you're taking the job, you bastard, or I'll take it myself!"

They both laughed and sniffled through their tears as Louis allowed himself to relax in Zayn's arms.

Another benefit of the hug was Zayn couldn't observe and analyze Louis' face as he tried to come to terms with the fact someone else was leaving him. Louis tried to push those thoughts away and nuzzled his face into Zayn's neck for even more comfort.

For the time being, at least, it worked.

~~~~~

"But Lou? What if I end up in your class? That would be the worst!" Daisy complained as he was driving the twins back from their hip hop and jazz dance class they had every Thursday.

Classes started up again on Monday, and it was the first time the girls had thought about the chances of being caught in their brother's class.

"Love, you don't need to worry about that. I'm not allowed to be your teacher, it's not ethical."

Phoebe snorted. "Yeah, because schools are always ethical. Tell that to the headmaster down south who was earning more than David Cameron because of how he was swindling money!"

Louis looked at her out of the corner of his eye in shock. "Why do you even care? You're 14! Do you have any idea what is really going on in this country?"

"Rude!" Daisy called from the back seat. "We know more than you think! We keep ourselves informed!"

"Yeah, on Twitter," Louis mumbled.

He got punched in the shoulder by Phoebe at the same time the back of his seat was kicked by Daisy.

"Oi! I'm driving! If you want us to make it back safely, I advise you stop that at once!"

"We get our news from Tumblr as well, thank you! At least we know we are getting actual news from around the world and not just the narrative the news agencies want us to hear," Phoebe argued before Daisy took over again.

"Yeah, and we often get it faster and more complete than the BBC reports because we are getting it firsthand from people who are actually there!"

"Okay, okay," Louis placated, raising a hand in submission. "So what's going on at home? I haven't seen anyone in awhile because of work picking up again."

Phoebe shrugged. "Nothing. Lottie barely does anything because she's always talking to her boyfriend on her phone, but other than that it's normal."

Louis snorted. Normal. That's hysterical. Wait...

"Lottie has a boyfriend? Why haven't I been told about this?" Louis was really quite offended that she couldn't bother to tell him such important things as snagging a man, though that could be because he often didn’t approve of the men she brought home, not to mention their father.

"Well..." Daisy hedged, head cocked as Louis watched her think how to word it through the rearview mirror.

"She won't admit she does," Phoebe finished. "She claims it's just one of her friends from uni, but she was never on her phone at the beginning of the summer, so we're pretty sure she's lying. Plus Daisy saw the name is just a bunch of heart emojis. Lottie obviously doesn't know how to be subtle."

Louis chuckled at Phoebe's matter of fact tone and the way she already sounded like a miniature of their sassy mother. Jay should be proud, all of her kids definitely were blessed with her attitude and wit.

"Well. We will just have to wait and see, won't we?"

~~~~~

Louis sat down on his couch in his flat. His. Not theirs.

That was going to take some getting used to.

Zayn was gone to Manchester, Lottie and Fizzie both off to their own universities, and school started back for Louis tomorrow.

This was the time of year that usually had Louis excited: the weather changing again, a fresh school year with new students and new classes starting up, just a general feeling of hope and possibilities and an overall good time, yet Louis couldn't bring himself to look forward to any of it.

So much had changed for him this summer. The only thing that seemed to be the same was his father's determination to get him married to some son of a CEO.

When his dad had learned about Zayn and Liam, he had initially been appalled. "How could you allow your flatmate to gain his affections instead of you?!" he'd yelled. But Charles had warmed to the situation eventually.

It was the first week of October when Charles finally phoned Louis with what he thought was a brilliant plan.

"Louis. Guess who is going to be here during half term?"

Louis rolled his eyes as he pushed aside the pile of essays he had been attempting to mark. He was relieved that he hadn't had to take over drama club as he was initially expecting to because he was flooded with work as it was.

"Who, Dad?" He had to play along or his dad would never let him off the phone.

"Martin Styles!"

Louis' brows scrunched together and he rubbed his forehead. He really did need to remember to wear his glasses when reading to stave off the headaches.

"Why is it of importance that Martin Styles is going to be here?"

"It's your in! Well, other than your best friend dating Harry's best friend. I've heard that Harry is in France for the next few weeks so I want you to find a way to meet Martin and get into his inner circle so he can get you introduced to his nephew!"

Louis groaned and dropped his forehead to the table. "Dad, look, I already know Harry. We don't really get along. At all. I'd rather not be in the same building as him. Besides, I think Zayn was wanting me to come see him during half term anyway."

Louis was going to have to call Zayn and make sure that was okay with him. Louis just couldn't handle his father coming up with hair brained schemes to get him to run into Harry's uncle and make it seem organic the entire week.

"Well, if that changes let me know. I have contacts who can find out his schedule!" His father's enthusiasm would not be curbed. 

"That's called stalking!" Louis argued.

"Not if they like you!"

Louis flipped his fringe to the side and simply said, "Okay, well I've got papers to mark. Bye, Dad," and rang off.

He took his time getting a glass of water and a paracetamol for his headache and grabbed his phone before heading to his room. The papers didn't have to be graded tonight, he could finish them in the morning when his headache was hopefully gone.

Louis flopped onto his bed and pulled up Zayn's contact. It was a Friday night, but hopefully early enough that he wasn't already busy with Liam.

"Hey, bro! It's been awhile since I've actually talked to you!"

Louis could feel himself relaxing just hearing Zayn's voice again. He missed him more than he wanted to admit.

"I know, we seem to prefer texting, yeah?" Louis laughed. They made small talk and caught up on things until Louis finally found a way to bring up what he needed to.

"So, half term is coming up," he oh so smoothly transitioned. He heard Zayn's tinny laugh through the line and couldn't help but smile.

"Whatcha got planned for that week? Anything fun?"

"Wellllll, that's kinda what I was calling about," Louis hedged. "You know my dad, well he came up with another idea of how I can catch me a rich man during that week and I might have told him you needed me in Manchester to get out of it?"

Louis could hear breathing down the line.

"Lou?"

Crap. He couldn't do it. Louis winced a bit and said, "Yeah?"

"I really need you in Manchester for half term. All of it. You need to leave the school and come directly here and you can't return until the Sunday afternoon before it goes back in session. If you need me to give details of why, I could probably do that too, but I'll need some more warning. When's half term? Last week of October?"

Louis heaved a massive sigh of relief. "Yeah, the last week. Thank you so much, Zee. I know we'd talked about my visiting for a day or two but you are truly saving me from a week of horrors."

"Of course! It'll be great to see you. And I'm excited you'll finally get to know Liam better as well. Oh! I'm looking at the calendar and that means you'll be here for our Halloween party! We've rented out a bar for a massive karaoke party complete with a costume competition, so you better come ready!"

Louis didn't think he could smile any wider. His best mate, costumes, karaoke, and loads of alcohol. Nothing sounded better. "I'll definitely be prepared. Thanks again, Zayny. I really appreciate it."

They said their goodbyes and rang off. Now Louis had to plan an epic costume, no one in Manchester would know what was coming.

~~~~~

Louis hadn't really known what to expect when Zayn sent him the address, but he had figured it would be a posh flat or something. Instead the Sat Nav he had borrowed from his mum since his phone was a dinosaur sent him into a gated community. Turned out the code Louis had assumed would allow him in the building only let him into the main entrance.

Louis tried to focus on the road instead of the veritable mansions he was driving past, but it was quite the far cry from his run down flat in Donny. When he finally pulled up in front of the house, which also had its own gate, Louis could hardly believe that's where Zayn lived.

He pressed the button by the intercom and heard Zayn's voice.

"Bro, you didn't tell me you live in a palace!" Louis called into the mic. Rather than responding, Zayn just opened the gate to let him in.

Louis pulled up beside the house and parked next to the garage.  He pulled out his bags from the boot and dragged them to the front and found Zayn already waiting on the stairs.

“This isn’t our place, you wanker.  We’re house sitting until Gemma and Niall get back tomorrow,” he laughed as he pulled Louis into a hug.  “And I missed you, you piece of shit.”

Louis chuckled into Zayn’s neck.  “Yeah, I missed you too, ya tosser.”

Liam joined them on the porch just as Louis was pulling away from Zayn and grabbed his bag.

“Hope you don’t mind, you’ll actually be staying here the full week since they’ve got a spare room,” he said after greeting Louis with a handshake.  Louis was going to have to help Liam relax a bit, that’s not how you greeted friends.  “Our flat is spacious, but Zayn’s already taken over the spare room so it was either you stay on our couch or sleep on an actual mattress.”

Zayn smirked over his shoulder at Louis.  “I knew your highness would prefer a soft mattress to a sofa.”

Louis smacked him upside the head before agreeing.  “Damn right.  This perfection deserves the best,” as he grabbed his own bum.  “So, Niall?  Who’s Niall?”

Liam and Zayn both paused, looked at each other, and laughed.

Louis walked around them so he could peek inside the rooms they were about to walk past now they were upstairs, ignoring their strange reaction to the question.

"Well...he's..." Zayn begins.

"He's Irish," Liam decides on before Zayn interrupts.

"And loud."

"And he loves to laugh."

Zayn chuckled as he said, "No, Lou, like he really loves to laugh."

"And he's been my best mate since we were 13, went through all the awkward teenage phases together," Liam recalled fondly.

Louis was inspecting a large pastoral painting hanging in the hall, which actually added a very homey feel to what was clearly a newer house, as he asked, "And he's Gemma's boyfriend?"

Liam just about choked. "What?! Why would you think that?"

Louis turned to see Liam's eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"Well, they both live here, right? It's their home? Why wouldn't I think they're dating?"

Liam just stood, blinking, with his jaw opening and shutting again. Zayn reached over and helped him close his mouth.

"It's really not that hard to figure out, babe," he soothes.

Liam turned to him then. "But, Harry doesn't know yet! And Niall made me swear to keep it a secret! And if even Louis can figure it out-"

"Oi!" Louis protested, to no avail.

"-and he hasn't even met them yet, then how are we to expect that Harry won't figure it out!" Liam's hands now covered his mouth as he shook his head.

Louis was so confused, none of this was making any sense to him. "Why doesn't Harry know they're dating if they live together? And isn't Niall expecting to be the acting father of the baby if that's the case? Are they afraid Harry'll flip like he did over Gemma and James?"

Liam turned a glare to Louis very quickly. "You will not mention the pregnancy or James to Gemma unless she brings them up first, do you understand? You obviously don't know the situation as well as you think you do," and with that Liam quickly turned into the room on their left.

Louis turned with wide eyes back to Zayn. "So, he's scary when he's mad, and I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong?"

"Just..." Zayn’s words faded away, and he rubbed his scruffy chin. "It's complicated and not our story to tell, so just act like you know nothing. It's close enough to the truth, yeah?"

For once speechless, Louis simply nodded and followed them into the room that would be his for the week.

~~~~~

"Honey! We're home!" a boisterous Irish voice proclaimed as Louis sat finishing his late breakfast. Zayn was at the museum and Liam had run out to grab some food to replace what he and Zayn had consumed during their stay, leaving only Louis at the house.

"Uh, I'm in here!" he called so Niall wouldn't be caught unawares. He washed out his bowl and set it in the sink, turning around to see a wiry but strong frame topped with a shock of brown hair that had what looked to be the remains of bleached blond tips growing out.

"Ah, you have to be Louis!"

Louis' brows knit together. "That would be me, though why you said it like that has me worried, if I'm honest," he admitted, holding out a hand.

"'M Niall! Gems should be here any second. Great to finally meet ya! I've been hearing about you from Harry and Zayn for ages!" The very loud man then ignored Louis' proffered hand and wrapped him in a tight hug.

Shocked, Louis slowly wrapped his arms around Niall and let out a chuckle.

"Please don't judge me based off what Harry said. I'm sure he gave you the worst version of me, whatever he told."

"He was quite complimentary, actually, and that says a lot considering my brother doesn't easily give away praise."

Louis was finally released from Niall's grasp at the sound of the woman's voice and when he turned he found a woman just as strikingly gorgeous as her brother. They could be twins, if he didn't already know Gemma was a couple years older than Harry. What caught Louis off guard was the fact that she didn't look pregnant at all. If Louis had done his math right he figured she should be 7 or 8 months along. Oh God, what if something had happened to the baby?

Louis pulled himself together enough to respond to what she had said about how Harry had spoken well of him.

"That's surprising, honestly. I'm afraid he hasn't been witness to my best side. I'm Louis, as I'm sure you know."

Louis held his hand out again, but this time Gemma took it in her firm grasp as she appraised him thoughtfully.

"Well, he was certainly right about your eyes, they are a most incredible blue." She peeked around Louis' side before smirking. "Can't wait to see your famous arse in action though," she teased.

Louis' eyebrows rose into his hairline. "I'm quite sure I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't let Tommo fool you, he is very proud of his ass," Zayn laughed as he came walking into the kitchen and kissed Gemma on the cheek. "Hey, Gemma. The trip do you good?"

She hummed the affirmative and swatted him on the bum. "It was just what I needed, even if Niall over fed me the entire time."

"No such thing!" the Irishman called from the pantry. He came out carrying what looked to Louis to be a most eclectic mix of ingredients. "Besides, what else is a chef to do?"

Louis helped him unload onto the counter as Gemma and Zayn chatted quietly on the other side of the kitchen.  “Chef?  That’s sick, mate!”

“Yeah, I love it.  Have my own catering company that took off faster than I expected thanks to help from Li and Harry.  They’ve really helped me make a name for myself, and because of that I have a lot of flexibility with my schedule which has really come in helpful the past few months when emergencies arose,” Niall continued as he got more out of the pantry.

“I’m sure,” Louis agreed.  “So what exactly are you making with...all of this?”

“Something amazing, I’m sure, but Louis, I have a serious question to ask you,” Gemma interrupted, pulling Louis away from Niall, who seemed to already be in his own cooking world.

“And that question would be…?”

Gemma crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side before saying in all seriousness, “How are you at Scrabble?”

~~~~~

Liam and Zayn left for their flat shortly after tea that night, saying they'd be back for Louis in the morning.

Louis got on well with Gemma and Niall, which was a relief, and when Gemma begged off to her room leaving the two boys playing FIFA, Louis found his chance to ask a few questions.

"So, how long have you and Gemma been together?"

Honestly, Louis had found the rebound from James to be quite fast, especially considering they had been ready to move in together themselves and have a baby, but Louis wasn't one to judge.

Niall laughed at the question. "Not good at hiding it, are we?"

Louis shrugged as he tried to get around Niall's defender. "Well enough except for the fact you live together."

"Well, of course we live together, it's what Harry wanted while he was gone. As soon as he's back from Portugal I'm kicked back to my flat with Bressie," Niall said like it was common knowledge, which it very well could be but Louis was not getting the full picture from everyone which was incredibly frustrating.

"Does Harry live here, then?"

The conversation paused as Niall cheered and did a dance to celebrate finally scoring a goal. Now he was only losing 5-1. Once he'd sat down and the game resumed, he answered the question.

"Course Harry lives here, it's his house. He only moved Gemma in with him when that cunt James worked her over to make sure she was taken care of."

Louis froze, allowing Niall to score another goal.

"This is Harry's house?" Oh god. Louis could just imagine him coming home and finding Louis wandering around like he owned the place. That would surely go well. "Are you sure he's okay with me staying here? Does he even know I'm here?"

Niall scoffed. "Mate, Harry wouldn't shut up about you. If he doesn't know you're staying here, he'll probably get a boner when he learns you slept in one of his beds!"

“I...wait, what?”  What Niall seemed to be implying was ridiculous and completely out of nowhere.  “What the hell are you on about, Niall?”

Niall’s only response was to shrug, but Louis’ mind continued to race with questions.  He decided he was more likely to get an answer out of Niall if he stuck to the practical.  He could ask further about the rest later.

"How long is he supposed to be gone? Will he be returning while I'm here?"

Luckily the game was over now and Niall had decided to call it a night, if his turning off the console was any indication.

"Nah, I don't think he's due back until next week at the earliest, but he usually has to extend these things, so you'll likely miss him entirely. Well, I'm knackered so I'm off to bed. G'night!"

Louis hummed a goodnight in return, but didn't move from his perch on the couch.

Now that he knew it was Harry's house, should he leave? Go and stay with Zayn and Liam on their couch? He could handle a couch for a week.

Louis looked around the room he was in with new eyes. This was Harry's. Harry had chosen the overstuffed couch and Harry owned Love Actually and Harry had simple gauzy curtains that allowed in light but still gave privacy.

Harry had chosen the photo of Stevie Nicks to go on the wall and had coasters with silly pictures of cats on them and a large dining room table that looked like it was actually used.

All of it was Harry's. Including the bed Louis was sleeping in.

He flopped onto his back on the ridiculously comfortable couch and dug his fingers into his hair. Niall had said that Harry wouldn't be back until next week at the earliest, right? So there's no way he would actually run into him while staying there. So what's the harm, right? Technically it was also Gemma's home and Louis got along with her swimmingly, so he convinced himself that taking advantage of Harry's possibly unknown hospitality wouldn't be an issue.

Hopefully.

Louis walked upstairs and had just turned right toward his room when a door to the left opened.

"Oh, hey Louis," Gemma called out. "I was just going to come looking for you."

Louis walked closer to her so they wouldn't wake Niall, wherever he was sleeping.

"My mum is having us all for Sunday roast, it's a bit of a tradition, and she wanted to make sure you were there. You can join us, can't you?"

Louis was confused as to why his presence would be requested in the first place. How did she even know who he was? Either way, he wasn't going to turn down a chance at a Sunday roast.

"Of course, just tell me when and what to wear," he smiled.

"Great! I'll let her know. Sleep well!"

"Night," Louis bid as he turned towards his room once again.

This stay was going to be more eventful than he had originally planned.

~~~~~

"Niall. My ass is not going to fit into a pair of your trousers."

The Irishman just threw them at Louis anyway. "Just try them on, idiot. It's either that or use a pair of Harry's, and those would be too long as well as too tight in the bum, so take what you can get."

Louis harrumphed but did as Niall instructed. Apparently Anne Twist required formal dress at family Sunday dinner and Louis, of course, had only packed joggers, his Halloween costume, and in case he actually needed to go out, some jeans. He hadn't expected to be required to dress for anything and that left him with few options when they were due to arrive at dinner within 30 minutes.

Louis was somehow miraculously able to button and zip the trousers, but he was still worried about the lack of stretch.

"Niall," he whined. "I'm not going to be able to breathe, much less eat, while wearing these. And I'm going to bust a hole in the arse!"

Niall tutted. "Come 'ere, ya big baby. They look great! Now choose a button down to go with it and maybe a pair of braces, and you'll be good to go."

Louis rolled his eyes but did as he was told. He chose a blue shirt that had a bit of shine to it, and after tucking it in felt he actually did look pretty good.

"Here, put these on. They'll go perfectly," Niall said and held out a pair of striped braces.

"Seriously? Braces? I'm not 75, thank you." The last person Louis remembered seeing wear braces who was actually cool was Captain Jack Harkness, and he was fictional. Louis wasn't going to rely on that for his fashion choices.

Niall would not be swayed. "Oh come on," he said, as he clipped them onto the back and flipped them over Louis' shoulders. "They'll look great."

Louis was fixing his quiff in the mirror when Liam walked in.

"You lads ready? We'll be late if we don't leave soon."

They rode over in Gemma's car and Louis soon found himself walking into a house that made Harry's look quaint. It appeared to be a large country manor, complete with a butler and other household staff.

Louis was trying his hardest not to gape at anything, but there was just so much to look at he couldn't help it.

"Gemma! Boys! So glad to see you made it on time this week," a beautiful dark haired woman, who could only be Anne, enthused as she wrapped her daughter into a tight hug. They really did closely resemble each other. The entire family must be gorgeous, and that just wasn’t fair. Louis hung near the back of the group as the two women whispered a bit before the elder woman pulled back.

"It really was Harry's fault every time we've been late!" Niall insisted as he gave Anne his own hug. "Notice how we are on time every time he's not in town?"

"Don't you dare try pulling that with me, Niall Horan. I happen to know for a fact the reason you were late two weeks ago was because you had failed to do your wash for too long and couldn't dry your clothes on time!"

Louis snickered at that, bringing Anne's attention to himself. She immediately took the few steps to bridge the distance between them and Louis suddenly became nervous. She was just quite gorgeous and more than a little intimidating.

She held her hand out with a smile and said, "Hello, Louis! It is great to finally meet you! I'm Anne."

Louis shook her hand and gave a smile. "And thank you for having me."

"I'm sorry Harry couldn't be here, but he's a bit busy with business at the moment, as I'm sure you know. Next time you're able to make it I'd love to have you back so I can see the two of you in action," she apologized and patted his arm.

Louis just stood there in silence, trying not to fish mouth. He didn't want to offend his hostess, but what the hell was she on about? Why would Louis know anything about how busy Harry was? And why would she want to see Harry and Louis together? What had Harry said about him exactly to his family for Gemma and Anne to both be so interested in meeting him and thinking the two of them were on good terms?

Everyone started moving into the dining room before Louis was given a chance to respond so he took the easy route out from the confusion Anne's last comments had brought and followed everyone in, drawing himself as close to Zayn as possible.

"Louis, I want you to sit next to me so I can get to know you better!" Anne said with a smile over her shoulder.

Louis turned to Zayn and whispered, "What does she think I am doing here? Why does she want to get to know me?"

Zayn looked guiltily at Louis. "When I first moved here I might have mentioned you quite a bit and Harry might have also spoken of you kindly giving Anne a bit of an impression," he explained.

"Impression?! What kind of an impression?" Louis whisper-yelled.

Zayn opened his mouth to answer but Gemma had come to grab Louis and place him between herself and Anne at the table.

The food was already laid out and smelling amazing. Louis took in the roast beef, mixed veg, and Yorkshire pudding, and could hardly wait to dig in. Once everyone was seated and the dishes began to be passed around, Anne began chatting.

"So, Louis. Harry told us an amusing tale about how he saved you from your washing machine, but I couldn't determine how much was actually true. He does seem to exaggerate his own abilities from time to time, as well as the severity of the situation."

Louis swallowed his bite before saying quite firmly, "That machine is the devil! I'm going to have to replace her soon, but I'm trying to hold out until next summer."

Anne chuckled. "Was it really spewing bubbles? I've heard of such things happening but have never witnessed it myself so I thought it could be an old wives tale."

This set Louis up for relaxing into storytelling, one of his favorite things, and he found himself relaxing into dinner.

Dinner finished and they had to make their way back for those going to work the next day, but Louis found he had a surprisingly great time with both Anne and Gemma and if Anne's repeated requests that Louis come back again soon were to be believed then he thought they were just as fond of him in return.

And if Louis was being honest with himself, he just wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that he was finding himself getting attached to Harry's family when Harry himself was so incredibly frustrating.  

~~~~~

“Sneaky fucker! Vibey is not a word!” Niall yelled across the board.  

Louis had learned days ago how seriously this game was taken with Gemma and Niall, but he kept coming back for more.  Mostly because he kept barely losing to Gemma and that was just unacceptable.  He had to win at least once, seeing as he taught English and all.

“Of course it is!” Louis argued.  “It’s said in plenty of songs and used even in online articles!”

Gemma raised their copy of the dictionary that was being used as the final say for this game.  They had come up with concrete rules regarding what was acceptable for use after Liam tried claiming ‘psychiatry’ wasn't actually a word the second night Louis was there.  Being a cold and rainy Wednesday evening in October, surely there were other things they could be doing, but Scrabble had already become the favorite pastime for the group and everyone knew what to expect.

"Yes, but I've been fighting the use of that particular dictionary ever since it was decided on! It is outdated and we all know the Oxford English Dictionary adds new words every year!" Louis fought.

Zayn spoke up at that point. "In Louis' defense, vibey is a recognized slang term on dictionary.com and we decided on Monday that slang was acceptable."

"Thank you! I always knew I loved you best, Zee!" Louis leaned across the table and smacked a kiss on the man's forehead.

"Yes, but we also agreed that if it was slang it should also be included in this dictionary!" Gemma cried.

Just as general uproar was about to break out, a voice not previously associated with the game spoke up. "What a rousing game of Scrabble! Is it too late to join?"

"Harry!" Gemma squealed as she jumped off the couch and into her brother's arms. He laughed loudly as he swung her around and Louis couldn’t help but feel a little charmed over their obvious admiration of each other.  He looked away as they began whispering to each other, as it felt far too personal for him to be watching.

When he looked away he found Zayn watching him intently.

“What?” Louis mouthed at him.  Zayn just gave a shrug, but the pensive look didn’t leave his face.

“You’d think these two had been apart more than just a few weeks,” Niall teased, lounging back in his seat, hands behind his head.  “Tell me, Harry, did you find a way back sooner than expected solely because you knew I’d feed you some more of my incredible food?”

Harry and Gemma finally broke apart and came back to the group, Harry not phased in the least that Louis was sitting on his sofa.  He sat down in the open spot beside Louis before addressing Niall.

“Of course, I expect some curry from Zayn as well as something grilled to perfection from yourself in the next couple days.  Plus, aren’t you making us some of your famous corned beef and cabbage for Halloween like you usually do?  I couldn’t miss that!”  

Harry moved to make himself more comfortable, which apparently involved him crossing his left leg over his right in a way that caused his knee to rest on the edge of Louis’ thigh and his arm slung along the back of the couch.  Louis’ posture stiffened even as he tried to keep himself relaxed, but he was so confused.

Everything about Harry confused the hell out of Louis.  He was so stuck up his own arse and conceited and rude and…and yet, here he was letting Gemma live with him and he helped Niall get his business started and was obviously kind to Liam and now Zayn by extension and he had helped Louis himself with his washing machine.  Louis was at a complete loss as to whether to despise Harry or love him and Louis was an all or nothing kind of person.  He wasn’t wishy-washy about anything, so the fact that Harry had confused him made him supremely uncomfortable.

Harry seemed to recognize this fact, though, because as other conversations broke off and the game was forgotten, he turned to Louis and asked, “Does this bother you?  I can move if it does.”

Louis offered a small smile, figuring it was the least he could do.  “It’s fine.  Uhm, I’m kinda staying here until I leave on Sunday, does that create an issue?  Because I would be completely fine sleeping on Liam and Zayn’s couch.”

Harry almost looked affronted by the suggestion and tried to run his fingers through his hair until he realized it was pulled up in a messy bun.  “Of course not, they asked before setting you up here and as long as you don’t have a problem with me being home now, I’m fine with you staying.”

Louis studied his face to make sure Harry was telling the absolute truth.  Even as little as Louis knew him, Gemma had said Harry couldn’t lie.  When he felt he was sure Harry was telling the truth, Louis nodded.

“Okay.  Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

~~~~~

On Friday morning Louis woke up to silence.

Well, once he checked the time on his phone he realized it was actually just past noon so morning was a relative term, though that would explain the quiet. It was already far less noisy once Niall had gone back to his own apartment, but Gemma was usually home in the morning creating her own racket as she moved through the house until she had to leave for the office for meetings and other things she couldn't do from home. Harry was always gone by the time Louis woke up, so it seemed Louis had the house to himself until people came home to start getting ready for their big Halloween bash that night.

Louis took his time stretching and kicked off the covers. He rolled off the bed and figured he should at least put on a pair of joggers even if no one else was home. It would just be too weird to wander a house that wasn’t his in just his pants.

He dug around his now very well picked over luggage and found a pair that would work and in the end also pulled on a ratty tee shirt too. Deeming himself decent, Louis made his way to the kitchen for a cuppa and some cereal.

Once he turned on the kettle, he returned to his room for the papers he was hoping to finish grading while others were at work and had just gotten himself and his tea settled at the table when a movement in the doorway caught his eye.

He turned and found Harry, wearing only an entirely too small pair of boxer briefs. With distinct effort, Louis dragged his eyes up his ridiculously toned torso and...was that a butterfly on his stomach? Louis finally reached the man's face when he had come to Louis' side in order to see what the papers were.

"Ahh, a break for the students is never really a break for the teacher," he chuckled before heading into the kitchen like it was normal to be wandering around in your pants in front of...well...anyone.

Louis cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, and hummed in agreement.

"You should wear those more often you know," Harry added after pouring the water for his tea. "You look really good in them."

Before Louis could stop himself, he retorted, "What, clothes?"  He slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment. That really was not what he had intended to say.

To his relief Harry let out what could only be described as a honk or a bark of laughter followed by the cutest set of giggles Louis had ever heard. Louis took the chance to peek over his shoulder at Harry and found him holding his stomach with the most breathtaking smile on his face.

Louis had to admit, even somewhat begrudgingly, that Harry really was gorgeous.

"That's good," Harry wheezed. "I meant your glasses, but to be clear I'm sure you look perfectly fine whether wearing clothes or not."

Louis' cheeks flushed and he almost choked on his tea. He wasn't sure where to look now or how to react. Harry was flirting with him? He knew Harry thought well of him, but he honestly had no clue he might be interested at all, much less enough to flirt!

Before Louis could react at all, Harry continued to talk. "Anyway, I'll let you be. I need to get ready for the day and head over to the pub to help Niall setup for the party tonight. You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll be there."

Shooting a cheeky grin over his shoulder before sashaying out of the kitchen, Harry said, "Great. See you then!"

Once Louis was sure Harry was out of earshot, he dropped his head to the table and groaned.

~~~~~

Louis grabbed the bag with his costume in it from the seat beside him as soon as Liam parked and climbed out. It was about an hour before the party started, but Niall had called in reinforcements to help get everything else setup. He and Harry had been able to get the decorations up along with Bressie, who apparently wasn't just Niall's flatmate but also manager of the pub. They hadn't had time to get the sound system for the karaoke set up though and Niall also needed some extra help getting the food ready to go.

They walked in and found mostly fake cobwebs everywhere as well as what had to be enough Halloween themed glitter and decorative confetti to last until next summer. With the lighting and other movement sensor decorations they had set up though the ambiance was perfect.

"Hey! Harold! Where do you need us?" Louis called as he tossed his bag on the bar. He saw Niall as a Chelsea footballer and Gemma in a simple but sophisticated witches costume but Harry was nowhere to be found.

"He's getting changed now. If you could help me with the food that'd be perfect. Li, you and Zayn are familiar with the sound system, yeah?"

Everyone separated and got to work. The food was ready in no time, but Harry still hadn't returned.

"What's Harry's costume? He's taking forever," Louis wondered right as he went to grab his own bag from the bar. That, of course, was when Harry walked out of the bathroom dressed as Wonder Woman.

Instead of the skirt, he had opted for tiny blue shorts and his boots were thigh high, but otherwise his costume was perfectly on point. Even his hair was just the right mixture of wavy and curly around the headband. Basically Louis' body couldn't help but react, and considering his own costume, that could spell disaster later on.

"Hey! Thanks for coming early to help set up. Things look great now!" Harry thanked as he walked up to Louis, seemingly completely unaware of what he was doing to him in that costume. Well, he'd get his own soon enough. Hopefully.

Louis swallowed roughly and smiled. "'Course. Didn't do much in the end, just a bit with the food, and now I need to get into my own costume."

Harry bowed, he actually fucking bowed, and moved his arms in a flourish to indicate the way to the loo. Louis just stared for a minute before shaking his head and heading where indicated.

He locked himself into a stall and made quick work of changing into the minimal clothing required for his outfit.  If he had bloody known what Harry’s choice would be and how he would be so affected, Louis would have considered a different costume.  As it was, he hoped to get well sloshed and perhaps pull tonight and he knew his chances were significantly higher of that with his outfit choice.  

Once he was sure he had everything, Louis walked out of the stall to double check himself in the mirror and put on his final touches.  He was now thankful for all those hours Lottie had insisted on having him practice using eyeliner for his drama productions.  His eyes were dark and smokey when he was done, and he finished by painting on black whiskers.  He stepped back and admired his messy fringe that was topped with a furry cat ears headband, his glittery collar, and the tiny black pair of leather booty shorts that had a black tail attached to the back.  Yes, he looked good.

Time to get drunk.

Louis stashed his bag with the others’ behind the bar and checked the time.  The first guests should be arriving shortly, and Louis couldn’t wait because then he wouldn’t feel so bad for jumping into the shots that were already being lined up.  He took a deep breath and turned around to survey the room before it got too packed and found Harry frozen with a look of surprise on his face.

Louis popped his hip, tilted his head, and raised his eyebrows in a way that obviously meant Well?  Harry just walked over to him quickly, walked up into his space without actually touching him, then leaned into his ear and whispered, “I knew you’d look even better without your clothes,” before pulling back with a smirk and disappearing into the back offices with Bressie.

Louis needed to get very, very drunk if he was going to survive this.

~~~~~

Louis was not as drunk as he wanted to be, but he did have quite a few eyes following him around the room, so he was perfectly okay with that.

The fact that one of the pairs of eyes that never seemed to leave him was Harry...well.  Louis was still trying to figure out what to do about that.  

He was still so conflicted!  Here was this man who seemed to have just been handed everything good in life, who destroyed his sister’s own relationship with, well, now Louis could admit James was a lanky git, but that didn’t change the fact Harry destroyed what was a loving relationship that had produced a child!  Or would have.  Louis was still unsure what exactly happened there and while he wasn’t as drunk as he wanted to be, was still entirely too drunk to be thinking about such serious things.

What he wasn’t drunk enough to think about though was how incredible Harry looked in his costume.  The tight top showed how perfectly muscular and formed he was, and the blue shorts showed he did have a nice arse.  And God...his legs.  Louis thought he probably shaved them because they looked that smooth.  And...well..Louis might feel the need to mark up his thighs even more than he would have otherwise because of that.

So really, anyone would be able to understand why he was so confused.  And why Harry’s heated gaze was both giving him more energy and making him feel even more unsure of himself.  Louis tried to put those thoughts to the back of his head to be dealt with later as he continued dancing to the horrible rendition of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” that was being sung by a tube of toothpaste.  

Louis needed more food and he definitely needed to see if he could track down more drink, so he left the makeshift dance floor and headed to the tables that were somehow still magically stocked with food.  Amazing.

Louis grabbed a few mini sammies and was about to head to the bar when he was tackled by a somewhat drunk but definitely high Zayn.

“Zee,” Louis whined.  “You promised you wouldn’t smoke without telling me!  You’re my only source for weed here.”

Zayn made a faux pouty face back at Louis before cracking up.  “I’m sorry, Lou Bear, I really am, but Liam got a really great joint and we were already outside smoking so I might have had a couple hits and now I just really really really want you to sing my song!”

Louis scoffed.  “Your song?  How did it become yours?”  Zayn continued to bounce on his toes a bit as he grabbed a few crisps from the table beside them.

“You know how much I love when you sing that song, Lou.  And please, can you do the dance too?  You know I like it when you do the dance!”  

Louis huffed a sigh even though both he and Zayn knew he would give in.

"Go see if it's available and if it is go ahead and put my name in," he conceded.

"Yay!" Zayn gave him another big hug before running off to the karaoke catalogs.

"So, what song does this mean you're performing?"

Louis let out a squeak as he jumped and spun around to face Harry. He gave him a smack on his arm in retaliation.

"Sneaking up on people is rude, you know! As is eavesdropping!"

Harry gave a smirk and shrugged. "Oops."

Louis side eyed him as he turned to make his way to the bar. "You'll just have to wait and see, like everyone else in this joint."

Harry gave a pout as Louis grabbed a shot of what he hoped was vodka and threw it back. He winced when it went down before coughing and turning to Harry.

"Is this tequila?"

Harry gave a big smile. "Silver tequila. It's tequila in a costume to look like vodka."

He looked so proud of himself, but Louis just raised a brow before Zayn came bounding over, excited and breathless.

“They had it, Lou!  I signed you up and they said you’d be up soon!”  Zayn then did a bit of a twirl in his Robin costume before turning around and flinging himself at Batman Liam again.  

Louis quickly turned around and grabbed a second shot of the vodka wannabe tequila. He needed a bit more liquid courage before getting up and doing his thing in front of this group of strangers associated with Harry.

“So, you really aren’t going to tell me?” Harry asked again, hip popped and seriously causing Louis to have some issues with self control.  Now was not the time to be checking him out, Louis’ own shorts were too small for the side effects, particularly when he was going to be on stage soon.

Louis popped one of the mini sandwiches into his mouth as he shook his head.

It turned out Harry didn’t need to wait very long, anyway.  Louis wasn’t very sure what exactly Zayn had offered the guy running the karaoke, but as soon as the current singer was finished, Louis was announced.

Louis flashed what he hoped was a cocky smile at Harry and said, “Well, enjoy the show!”

He might have swayed his hips a bit more than usual on his way up to the stage, but it was all part of the show, or at least that’s what he told himself.  Besides, the shorts really did make his ass look great.

The tequila was thrumming through him now, and he could feel the extra energy and confidence it had given him.  Maybe the tequila really was the better option to vodka.

The music started up and Louis grabbed at the mic, pulling it off of the stand in time to begin singing.

“Kelly, can you handle this?  Michelle, can you handle this?  Beyonce, can you handle this?  I don’t think you can handle this!”

Louis continued to sing and perform the little routine he had made up when he and Zayn were still quite young and their only goal was to dance like Beyonce.  Louis was the only one of the two who ended up being blessed with the backside for her moves, so Zayn had gracefully bowed out as they grew older, and this was the first time Louis was glad of that.

Harry’s stare burned as Louis continued to sing Bootylicious as he alternated between grinding on the mic stand and shaking his hips.  Zayn, Liam, Niall, and Gemma were all right in front of the stage cheering him on and whistling, while Harry stood near the back of the crowd, his eyes growing visibly darker, which Louis could see even from as far away as he was.

Louis came to the chorus again and as he sang, “Cause my body too bootylicious for ya babe,” he rubbed a hand all down his front before turning and grabbing his ass for everyone to see.  He continued acting out the lyrics as he sang, “Move your body up and down, make your booty touch the ground, I can’t help but wonder why, is my vibe too vibealicious for ya babe?”  

At this point, Louis was not paying attention to anyone outside of the curly haired beauty in the Wonder Woman costume.  Harry was now biting quite intently on his lower lip, and Louis sure as hell wanted to suck on it himself.

“I shake my jelly at every chance, when I whip with my hip you slip into a trance, I’m hoping you can handle all this jelly that I have.”

He skipped the scatting and let the background track take over as he continued to work his hips and rub his hands all over himself before the final round of the chorus came.  Louis ended with his bum popped in a profile view, and was more than pleased about the loud cheers that came up from the audience.

“Oh my God, Tommo!  That was so hot!  Zayn, why didn’t you join him?” Liam exclaimed as he hugged Louis and kissed his temple.

Zayn leaned over and whispered something in Liam’s ear that caused him to flush dark and, without any warning, they began to make out right there on the dance floor.

“Shit, guys, get a room!” Niall called as he pushed them away.  The couple hardly seemed to notice, so Louis turned away from them and back to Niall and Gemma.  Before he could say anything, a large, warm hand was placed on his hip.

“You never told me you could sing or dance,” Harry whispered in his ear.  Shivers shot down Louis’ spine.  He glanced at Gemma, who smirked as she turned away and dragged a complaining Niall behind her.

Louis placed his hand on Harry’s as he turned his head to respond.  “Guess it never came up.  Did you like it?”  Louis pressed his arse back into Harry’s groin and felt how much he had enjoyed it.

Harry let out a hiss at the contact before saying, “Just a bit.  You could have warned me.”  He nipped at Louis’ ear, and that was all Louis could take.  He linked their hands more fully and pulled Harry to a dark booth that was in the corner and had somehow remained mostly empty the entire night.  Pulling Harry in behind him, Louis slid back into the booth before running his hands into Harry’s hair.

“Warning you what was coming would have made it a lot less fun watching you,” he teased before leaning forward and kissing Harry fully.  Harry responded quickly, placing his hands on Louis’ hips and pulling him closer, and soon enough Louis was straddling Harry on the bench.  

Louis could taste the whiskey Harry had been sipping the whole night mixed with his own unique taste, and it was so addictive.  Harry deepened the kiss right as Louis ground down with his hips, and the rumbling of Harry’s chest as he groaned made Louis never want to stop.

Which of course was when he felt his phone began to ring in his pocket.

“Lou, why is your ass vibrating?”

Louis dove right back into kissing Harry and tried to ignore it.  Harry seemed to like this plan, but when the phone began to vibrate again immediately after the first call had stopped, Louis pulled it out to see who it was.

“Shit, why’s Fizz calling?”  Louis grabbed Harry’s wrist to look at the time.  It was around 1:30am, which sobered Louis up immediately.  If Fizzy was calling him at this hour, he knew it was serious.  “I’m sorry, I’ve gotta take this,” he apologized before running from the pub to take the call in the quiet outside.

“Hey, love.  What’s going on?”

Louis heard chaos in the background and he wondered where exactly she was.  “Louis, Lottie’s missing.”

Louis rolled his eyes.  “She’s probably just at a party or summat, Fizz.  It’s not a big deal.  She’ll be fine, she’s a big girl.”

He heard his sister’s breath hitch before she responded.  Was she crying?  “No, you don’t understand.  She never showed up to the party she was supposed to meet me at, so I went back to the flat and she left a note, Lou.  Said she was in love and was going to follow her heart and not to worry about her.  I don’t know who she might have gone to or why she couldn’t tell me, but she’s gone and she’s not answering her phone and I’m so worried!”  At that point Fizzy broke down in sobs, and Louis was at a loss.

“Shh, it’s okay, love.  It’ll be okay.  Have you talked to mum?”

Fizzy tried to pull herself together and between hiccups said, “Yeah.  She needs you to come home and watch the girls while she and dad figure out what to do.  I think Lotts might have gone to London because she kept mentioning it the past couple weeks, but I don’t know where or when or anything.”

Louis rubbed his arms as he tried to keep the chills that rolled through him at the thought of Lottie just running around the city with some bastard she didn’t even want to tell her family about.  He really was wearing too little to be out on a cold October night without a coat.

“Okay, it’s okay.  I’m going to head back to where I’m staying and grab my things and I’ll be on my way back to Donny as fast as I can.  Are you okay?”

“Yeah.  Still have class and everything so I’m here until Winter hols.  I’m just scared.”

Louis rubbed his face before realizing he was probably smudging his makeup.  Oh well, he was leaving the party anyway.  “I know, love.  She’ll be okay.  We’ll find her.”  They said their goodbyes and rang off before Louis finally pulled himself together enough to go back inside.  

He immediately headed towards the bar and asked the barkeep to hand over his things.  Louis was pulling on his coat when he realized he needed a ride back to the house.  He turned around and saw Harry chatting with a couple guys who looked like they were dressed like James Bond.  Or Men in Black.  Or something involving two guys in suits with sunglasses.  

He ran over to Harry, who immediately looked at him confused.  “Are you leaving already?”

When Louis nodded, Harry broke off the conversation with the others and began to walk to the door with Louis.  “I’ll take you back to the house since you don’t have your car here.  What’s going on?”

Louis sighed with relief that he didn’t even need to ask.  “My sister has gone missing, so I need to go back and make sure the twins don’t kill each other or burn down the house while my parents focus on finding her.  She’s 21, but just left a note not saying where she’s gone or why or anything.”

As they reached the car, Harry held the door open for Louis before saying, “You know, with her age the police aren’t really going to be able to help much.  They’re going to have to do most of the looking themselves.”

Louis paused.  “I hadn’t really thought of that.  Shit, this is a mess.  Why would she just leave like this?”

Louis remained silent the rest of the drive back to the house as Harry drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.  Every once in awhile, he would open his mouth as if he were going to say something but then thought twice about it.

Once they had parked and gotten back inside, Harry finally spoke up.  

“Are you sure there’s any need to worry?  She’s old enough to be able to take care of herself, really.  Maybe she just wanted to be sure it would work out before she told anyone about it.”

Louis snorted.  “Sure, just let her go off with some unknown guy none of us even knew existed in some place we think might be London, but we don’t know for sure, as she just abandons her studies in her last year.  That sounds exactly like something you’d let your sister do.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Harry asked, a steely tone back in his voice that Louis hadn’t heard since their fight in his apartment.  Louis turned at the top landing of the stairs and faced Harry.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Louis asked, somewhat hysterical.  “What it means is that’s pretty rich, coming from you!  You who wouldn’t even allow his own older sister be happy with her boyfriend!  You had to run him off and out of town without giving them a way to communicate, despite the fact she was pregnant!”

“You know nothing about that!  Stop before you continue to make yourself even more the fool!” Harry roared.

“Maybe I would know what I was talking about if people would actually discuss what went on around here instead of keeping everything closed off!  I’ve been here a week and I might know that Gemma and Niall are head over heels for each other, something you apparently have your head too far up your arse to be able to see, but I cannot explain what happened to that baby!  For all I know, you could have ordered Gemma to have an abortion!”

Harry pulled back as if Louis had physically smacked him.  “Is that what you think of me?”

Louis shrugged.  Most of the wind that had flamed his anger had somehow died down as soon as he saw Harry’s reaction to what he’d just said.

Harry nodded.  “Well then.  I’m surprised you’ve stomached my presence as long as you have.  I’ll leave you to gather your things in peace.  Have a safe drive home, Louis.”  And then Harry turned around and headed to his room.

Louis grabbed the stupid cat ears that he for some reason was still wearing and threw them down the hall so he could grip his hair how he wanted.  He needed to just get his things gathered together as soon as possible, change into something more appropriate, and get back to Donny so they could make a plan to find Lottie before something horrible happened.

~~~~~

Over the next two weeks Louis' life consisted of making sure his sisters got to school and their dance classes in addition to working and trying to focus enough to grade papers all while doing what he could to aid in finding Lottie. They had learned she was in London due to Jay still being a secondary on her bank accounts, but when they went to check out the few restaurants and shops she had been to, no one was able to help.

Louis had been on the phone with her mobile provider attempting to get them to send a paper copy of the bill, but she had recently switched to her own plan so the most recent copies of her phone records Jay had were from back in July.  Now that they were into November, Louis was really hoping for something a bit more recent, but it seemed the provider would not budge. Since then he had been digging around where he thought his dad had said he kept the mobile bills, but to no avail.

Jay and Dan were still in London, hoping that being there would allow them to continue to scour the neighborhoods they believed Lottie to be in.  Louis checked the time and realized it was already past midnight, no wonder the house had gotten quiet.  It was a school night and honestly Louis should be in bed as well.  He would call them tomorrow and see if they had any other information on where the bill might be.

Louis got ready for bed and turned out the light in his old childhood bedroom before climbing into bed.  He was closing all the apps on his phone and setting his alarm when he saw he had received a new email.  Not expecting anything but hoping it might be something to do with Lottie, he pulled up his gmail app and found the unread email was from Harry.

What the hell.

Louis had heard nothing from him since he had stormed out of his house after the Halloween party, and honestly he was fine with that.  Why was he reaching out to Louis after 2 weeks?  Louis opened the email despite everything in him telling him to put it off until tomorrow.

_Louis,_

_I understand if you choose not to read this and send it right to spam or trash, but I hope you will give me the benefit of the doubt.  It took me this long just to convince Zayn to share your email address with me, but I wanted to explain to you my side of what happened between Gemma and James since you’ve obviously heard a different account from a source I would say is far less reliable.  You already know my obvious distaste for James, let me tell you why._

_I met James when he was performing in a pub.  He’s fairly talented at music, I must admit, but Gemma was completely taken.  I didn’t really have an opinion of the man and found it not really my place to interfere if Gemma found him worthy of her time.  Their romance was fast and reckless, but nothing seemed to be able to tear the two of them apart._

_Mum did not find him to meet the standards of someone she had hoped for Gemma to settle with, and she made her opinions quite clear.  I tried to work as a buffer between them, but I fear it only caused frustration on all sides.  It especially did not cause me to be in James’ good graces._

_As you obviously have heard, about six months ago now, Gemma learned she was pregnant.  She was so fearful of what mum would think, but she couldn’t help telling me.  She was surprised, but determined to carry the child.  After all, she and James loved each other and were preparing to move in together._

_Her first appointment with the midwife around 8 weeks went just as it should.  Baby and mother checked out perfectly.  Her follow up at 12 weeks along did not go so well.  They struggled to find a heartbeat, and when they did it was weaker and slower than it should have been.  She was scheduled for a follow up ultrasound the next day, when they found the baby was smaller than it should have been and by that point a heartbeat could not be found.  Gemma had officially miscarried._

_She had the surgery needed and they began to do tests to find out what went wrong, but no conclusive evidence could be found.  To make matters worse, James seemed to disappear overnight.  None of the pubs where he had his regular gigs seemed to know where he had gone, and when Gemma stopped by the flat it was completely cleared out.  He had left her at the time when she emotionally as well as physically needed him most so she lost not only the child she had already grown to love, but her partner._

_This was unfortunately right when Liam and I were needing to start our travels with work and the obligations could not be put off.  Niall agreed to stay with her at my house so he could ensure she was not alone and could do whatever she felt she needed to help.  He was everything I could have hoped for given that I had to leave only a fortnight after the miscarriage._

_Our first location for work was Doncaster, where I later learned James had run off to.  I continued to be forced into social situations, such as the party where I believe we first met, despite my only desire to be at home taking care of my sister.  I tried to find James at the restaurant where he worked in an attempt to at least make him understand the depth of his betrayal to Gemma, but he was always able to evade me.  It seemed you were his only focus._

_Gemma continued to improve and her depression slowly began to lift.  As Liam and I went on to London, Glasgow, and eventually I continued to Lisbon, she seemed to return to herself more and more.  She was and obviously still is hurting, those kinds of losses and in the manner she suffered them, are not easily gotten over, but Niall is I believe the main reason.  He showed her what true love and support could be like, and for that I am grateful._

_So yes, James is not one I hold in high regard, but as you can see I feel I have a valid reason for it.  There is also reason as to why I do not share this story openly, as I feel it is not really mine to do so.  I had to share this with you in confidence though, in the hope that you will understand that I could never harm someone I love in the way you explicitly described.  I may be stubborn and my good opinion once lost is lost forever, but in this instance I do feel it was deserved._

_Thank you for reading this, if you make it this far, and giving me the benefit of the doubt.  You may now choose to go on in silence and never converse with me again, should you so choose.  I just had to try to explain._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Harry_

Louis dropped his phone onto the bedspread and wiped the tears that had gathered from his eyes.  What a right bastard!  Louis did believe Harry’s account easily, it lined up with the man Louis had learned James to be, and now Louis felt relieved that he had not become more attached to him than he had been.  

His thumbs hovered over the mobile keyboard and he bit his lip trying to think of a response, any response, before he gave up and plugged the phone in to charge. He'd figure out a response later. For now, he needed to get some sleep.

~~~~~

"Stop avoiding the question, Lou. I know something went down the night of the Halloween party, something in addition to the mess with Lottie, and now you want me to give you Harry's number?" Zayn sounded confused and exasperated on the other line, and Louis honestly couldn't blame him. "I just...I don't want to give it to you if there's not a good reason. I already gave him your email, which I'm surprised you aren't pissed over and I've been regretting ever since, but I still don't want to step on his toes now."

"He told me what happened with James and Gemma," Louis admitted quietly.

There was silence for a minute before he heard Zayn mutter a soft, "Shit," under his breath. Based on the sounds coming through though, Louis knew he was pulling up Harry's number and sure enough within moments Zayn was reciting some numbers for Louis to copy down.

"Thanks, Zee. I appreciate it."

Zayn sighed. "Yeah. Love you, bro. Good luck with...everything you've got going on."

After ringing off, Louis programmed the number in and sat there debating. He still hadn't found the old mobile bills and his dad of course didn't remember his login so he could download them, so he was at a bit of a dead end for the time being and he was finally caught up with his grading and lesson plans. Both Daisy and Phoebe were out for the evening, so for the first time in ages Louis actually had the evening to himself.

He knew he needed to address the email, but he had already put it off a couple of days and he just wasn't sure what exactly he was going to say.

Louis took a deep breath and hit dial. He paced the room before deciding to head upstairs to his bedroom while listening to the phone ring. It went to voicemail, as he should have expected since Harry didn't have his number, but now he was really panicked. What should he say?

"Hello, you've reached Harry Styles. I'm sorry I can't take your call, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I am able."

The beep rang and Louis took a deep breath.

"Hi, Harry. It's me, it's uh...it's Louis." He ran his left hand through his hair as he turned in circles in his small room. "I just...I got your email. Thank you for explaining. I just...I guess what I really called to say was I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you and for what James did and for what I said about you. I'm just...I'm sorry," he breathed out on a sigh. He really was botching this up, and he had no clue what to do to fix it.

"So, ehm, yeah. That's all I really wanted to say. Thanks and I'm sorry. I hope things are alright with you, things here are kinda crazy. We still haven't found Lottie, not that you probably care, I mean, you're over there all busy and have your own issues! You shouldn't be worrying about mine...uh," Louis smacked his forehead. "Okay. This message is long enough now, so I guess I'll talk to you later. Bye."

He ended the call and tossed the phone on his bed before throwing himself on top of it so he could groan into his pillow. He was such an idiot! Why did he think Harry would care about what was going on with Lottie? He just had to word vomit on that voicemail when all he wanted to say was thank you and apologize.

Louis still had his face in the pillow as he replayed the voicemail he left in his head when his phone began to ring. He dug around where he felt it buzzing under his stomach and eventually untangled it from his comforter.

"Hey, mum," he greeted.

"Hello, love! How are you and the girls holding up?"

Louis flopped onto his back and studied the glow in the dark stars that somehow were still stuck to the ceiling almost 20 years after he had originally put them up. "Alright, I guess. We're all keeping busy. You made any progress down there?"

"Well, we just missed her last night. We have alerts set up so whenever she uses her card it tells us immediately, but by the time we got there she had already left. It seems she frequents this shop regularly though, so we hope to catch up to her there eventually. I was calling to say your father had an epiphany and recalled his login for the mobile records though!"

Louis sat up quickly upon hearing that and pulled his lappy over. "That's great, I don't know that we will find anything from as far back as July, but we can see. What is it?"

He typed in the information she gave and the password only needed adjusting twice before it allowed him into their account.

They quickly said their goodbyes and Louis went in to the July records to print them off and start his inspection.

~~~~~

Louis hated Three. Or at least the website. Nah, he hated them in general, the website was just one of many reasons he switched to O2 when he got his own mobile plan, but they really were making his life a whole hell of a lot more difficult.

He finally got July's detailed bill pulled up and there wasn't a way to sort the calls by which phone made them, so he had to print out a gazillion pages of phone records for his parents and four sisters, highlight the ones that were done by Lottie and mark out the ones that were made to family, etc.

It had taken all of his patience just to get the stupid bill printed off the first day and only now, on a Saturday night when Louis really wanted to be with Stan cheering on Manchester United against Liverpool, was he finally finding the time to go through the numbers he hadn't previously marked off.

Louis' phone chimed with another text message.

_If RVP or Rooney can't pull a goal out against Liverpool I swear I'm going to start following La Liga instead. At least Ronnie is consistent. xx_

He and Harry had been texting almost nonstop ever since Louis' horrible voicemail. They actually got on quite well and had a lot in common once they got over their misconceptions.

 _Mate, you just think Ronaldo is well fit_.

Louis put the phone back to continue skimming the bill and realized that at the end of the month almost all of the remaining calls were to the same number. Louis heard cheering on the tv and his phone vibrating from texts but he just continued counting.

The final tally for calls to that number, another mobile phone from the looks of it, just for the month of July, was 26 and she only started calling it around halfway through the month.

Noise from the telly continued to get louder as Louis focused more on the bill, unable to pull away from what he could be figuring out even to see what was going on with the match. There were equally as many calls to a different number that seemed familiar to Louis for some reason up until the day the number changed.

But why was the number familiar? 07562 998317. He knew he'd seen it before. He grabbed his phone, ignored all of Harry's messages for the time being, and typed the number in and a contact did pop up. For James George.

Louis hurriedly dialed the other number Lottie had called so often during the second half of the month and hit call. The phone rang to voicemail and a very familiar voice spoke in Louis' ear.

"You've reached James George, I'm probably playing a gig or doing something just as important, so..."

Louis hit end as he covered his mouth in surprise. Holy shit, she'd been talking with James since July, maybe longer. She had his new number, even after he'd screwed Louis over. Granted, Louis had never admitted exactly what had happened to anyone other than Zayn out of simple pride, but had she actually fallen for the same trap Louis and Gemma both had? That Louis could have warned her about beforehand? It seemed the most likely option at this point.

Louis also remembered back to the conversation he'd had with Phoebe and Daisy about how Lottie had been so fixated with her phone and they thought it was because she had a new boyfriend. It was looking like they were right.

He was just about to call his parents when Harry rang in.

"Harry, hi, I'm sorry but..." is all he got out before Harry cut him off.

"We won, Louis! Why are you ignoring me? Was Shaw's cross too much for you? Did Maria's header amaze you to the point of not knowing what was real anymore?" Harry laughed loudly into the line.

"We won? That's great. But really, I have to go and call my mum, she needs to know about something I just figured out."

Still laughing and sounding like he was likely at a pub like Stan, Harry asked, "What did you find?"

"I think she's with James." Harry immediately sobered and became quiet but now that Louis had said it out loud, he found he couldn’t stop talking. "I think she's with James and I could have stopped it! If I had just been less prideful and stupid I could have told her about how he's not worth the time of day she'd waste on him and could have warned her about how he's really just a shit and he’s just going to hurt her...and...and..." Louis heaved as he tried to get air back in his lungs, tears stinging his eyes as he finally cried for the hurt James had caused him all those months ago, for the pain he caused Gemma, and for the fear he now felt for Lottie.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay Louis.  Just breathe.  She’ll be alright,” Harry soothed, instructing him to take deep breaths.  Louis focused on his rough voice and found his breaths began to slow as, consequently, his tears and heart did too.  “There you go.  Now, why are you saying you could have warned her?  I only told you the truth about Gemma this week, Lottie’s been missing since Halloween.”

Louis wiped his face and switched hands he was holding the phone with before standing up to relocate to the sofa, which was far more comfortable.

“Yeah, uhm, well, he didn’t exactly treat me as horribly as he did Gemma, but he still was a bloody arsehole.”

A steely tone entered Harry’s voice and suddenly Louis realized the noises he had initially heard in the background were quiet.  “What did he do to you, Louis?”

Louis bit his lip as he debated whether to tell Harry or not.

“Please, Lou.”

The soft tone Harry used combined with the nickname Louis hardly felt like he had earned in only their few days of friendship caused Louis to break.  

“Yeah, uhm, so I thought he was really into me.  He was pretty actively chasing after me, taking me on dates, always chatting with me on the phone, that kind of thing.  We finally hooked up and when I woke up the next morning he was gone.  He completely disappeared.  Left the city, changed his number, all of it.  I only found out he’d left for London when I went to the restaurant so I could yell at him and was filled in on the gossip by one of his former coworkers.”

“Fuck, Lou.  You don’t deserve to be treated like that.”

Louis let out a bitter chuckle.  “Yeah, well now thanks to the mobile bill I’ve been scouring I learn he was talking to Lottie before he left even more than he had been talking to me!  So now I’m even more confused and frustrated about the entire thing.”  Louis shook his head.  This wasn’t what he had wanted to be discussing with Harry, possibly ever.  “Listen, I really do need to talk to my mum.  She and dad have gotten close to finding her, but knowing to look for James will likely speed up the process.”

“‘Course.  I’m sorry, but thank you for trusting me with your story.”

Harry sounded so sincere in his thanks, Louis couldn’t help but smile a little.  Maybe he was the person he wanted to confide in after all.  “Thanks for listening.”

They hung up and Louis quickly called his mom to share the news.

~~~~~

“Phoebe, I swear to God!  If you don’t stop with your whining I will drop you off at Gran’s and leave you there to fend for yourself against her senile dog and creepy neighbors!” Louis threatened.  His patience had run out about an hour into the school day and after having to stay late in order to do a tutoring session for a group who needed extra help for their monologues he was done.  The fact that Phoebe wouldn’t stop crying over the fact that someone had been a bit too mean to her and Daisy didn’t care enough about it was more than he could handle at the moment.

He hadn’t slept well since the revelation involving James and Lottie, which of course caused him to forget his phone at home that morning and he had no idea if his parents had had any luck in their search in London.  This also caused him to leave his only halfway drunk tea on top of the car on the way to work so he was left with the trash they kept in the lounge and all of the students were out to make his life a hell that day.  Thanks so much.

Phoebe folded her arms with a huff in the back seat as Daisy rolled her eyes in the front and Louis turned on James Bay.  Maybe he could drown out their teenage drama with good music.  

As he turned onto their street he saw his mum’s car in the driveway.

“Mum’s back!  Phoebs, they’re home!” Daisy cried excited.

Louis sighed in relief.  “About bloody time,” he muttered.  He loved his sisters, but he needed some time in his own space not worrying about anyone but himself.  It’d been too long since he had slept without worry in the back of his mind for one of them.

They rushed into the house and found their parents sitting on the couch in the den, but no sign of Lottie.

"Where is she?"

"Did you find her?"

"Was she okay?"

"When did you get home?"

The girls peppered their parents with question after question until their father just gave Jay a look and said, "I'll be upstairs," before leaving the room.

Jay let the silence go for another moment before speaking herself. "Yes, we found her. Yes, she's home. Yes, she's okay." She paused, but before the girls could spit out more questions, Jay just held up her hand for continued silence. "We have all had a long day so we are asking you to just let us relax for the night. Lottie especially wants to be left alone, she only wants to see Lou."

The two girls immediately began to pout and whine as Jay nodded towards the stairs for Louis. He shot her a smile and slowly climbed to Lottie's room, unsure what he was really going to find.

Her door was closed, as he had expected, and there was silence on the other side. He and Lottie had always been close, but he was worried that she might blame him for helping their parents instead of siding with her.

After standing with his hand hovering over her doorknob for a minute, Louis took a deep breath, knocked, and opened the door a crack.

"Lou?"

He stepped in, cleared his throat, and quietly answered, "Yeah. It's me. You okay?"

Before he could even close the door behind himself she had launched herself off her bed and into his arms. She tightened her hold to the point that it was hard for him to breath and about all he could see was her silver blonde hair, but he wasn't going to complain if it meant that they had gotten her away from that wanker.

Lottie sniffed back some tears before saying, "I am so sorry!" It was then that she let the tears really fall and Louis was incredibly confused.

"Why are you sorry, love? I thought you'd be mad at me for helping mum and dad find you and drag you away from your supposed love," he gently questioned. He started to guide her towards her bed as he continued to stroke her back the way he used to when they were younger and she'd scrape her knee.

"Well, I had no idea they were down there looking for me, I was ignoring all calls and texts from you guys for awhile and had your numbers blocked," she admitted, a bit ashamed. "But honestly, Lou, I had no idea that he was leading you on like he was, really! And the way he screwed you over! And what he did to Gemma! I can't believe he lied to us about that! I'm so sorry! If I had known..."

"Wait," Louis had frozen where he was. How did she find out about that? There's no way James came clean about it himself. "How do you even know about that?"

Lottie wiped under her eyes and bit her lip. "Uhm, so mum and dad don't know this part," she softly confessed. "I didn't think they needed to know."

Oh god. How bad was this going to be? Louis arched his brow and nodded to get her to continue.

Lottie licked her lips before jumping in. "See, James and I had just gotten to the pub where he was playing last night when Harry came rushing up to him all angry-"

"Harry?" Louis interrupted again. "Harry Styles?"

Lottie sighed dramatically.  At least she still seemed herself.  

“Yes, Lou,” she said impatiently.  “Now please listen so I can tell the story.”

Louis held his hands up in surrender before Lottie, appeased, continued.

“Thank you.  So Harry came rushing up and before I could react at all he punched James right in the face!”  At this point Lottie was getting quite into her story, hands waving and facial expressions going wild.  Meanwhile, Louis just sat with his mouth hanging open in utter shock.  “So of course James wheeled around and yelled at him, I mean, what the fuck, right?  But Harry just pushed him up against the wall and started screaming about how he should have punched him or worse after what happened with Gemma,  considering he’d also had the nerve to get you to trust him just so he could leave as soon as you let him into your bed while he was also wooing me. He was ready to castrate him.”  Lottie quieted at that point.  “I swear, I didn’t know, Lou.  Once they got kicked out of the pub for the fight, Harry took me aside and explained everything.  I called mum right after and had her and dad pick me up from James’ when I gathered all my things.  It was too late to come back last night, so I stayed with them in the hotel and we came back this morning.”

“But...why?  I’m not sure I understand what Harry was doing in London to begin with,” Louis finally muttered.  “I mean, I’m glad.  I’m so glad you’re home and away from him, but what made him do it?”

Lottie narrowed her eyes.  “Are you really that dense?”

“I...excuse me?” Louis gasped.  “Are you quite finished, because I really would like to get to the bottom of this.”

“Louis William Tomlinson,” Lottie groaned.  “He said he’d been flirting with you the entire time he was with you over your break, that you almost hooked up the night of the Halloween party until you got the call about me, that you’ve continued to flirt via text, and now he goes and is all knight in shining armor for you and you’re still confused?”

“Well…”  Louis paused and considered her words.  “When you say it like that I feel like a proper idiot.”

“That you are,” Lottie agreed cheerfully.  She sobered rather quickly though.  “I really can’t thank him enough.  He bloodied James’ nose and I think might have bruised his knuckles for defending all of us.  I can’t believe I was so stupid.”  She sniffed and shook her head as she wiped at her eyes again.  “I honestly thought he loved me.”

Louis wrapped his arms around her again and rocked her while she cried.  It was going to take some time to process everything she had told him.

~~~~~

_I hope Lottie and your family are doing alright.  I haven’t heard from you in awhile.  I miss chatting with you.  xx_

Louis groaned and tossed his phone onto his bed before turning back to the last group of papers he had to grade for the weekend. He was so grateful to be back in his own flat with his new flatmate Oli where things were much more calm and quiet. It was much easier for him to focus on grading and lesson plans there than it had been with his sisters. He would forever be amazed at the amount of noise two teenage girls could make.

Another thing his quiet flat allowed him to focus on though was the fact that he still didn't quite know what to say to Harry. He had just wanted a bit of time to think about the right way to thank him for everything and broach the fact that he had actually told Lottie outright that he wanted to get with Louis, but at this point Louis was so angry with himself because he was just avoiding Harry. And that wasn’t like Louis! He usually didn’t avoid anything, so why was he so intimidated by that curly haired man?

“Because I think I might love the bastard,” he muttered to himself as he flung himself onto his desk.  

He pressed his cheek to the cool wood of the desk and and allowed himself to contemplate Harry and how he should begin to talk with him again.  Louis rolled his eyes at himself, he was acting like a school aged lovesick fool who was too afraid to talk to their crush.  Forget thinking about him, he just needed to actually reach out to Harry.

Louis stood up and flopped down on his bed, grabbed his phone, and pulled up the text Harry had just sent.

_Yeah, they’re doing fine.  Working with the uni to get the reallocation of Lottie’s classes figured out, but that seems the worst of it, which is great. Thank you for all of your help with Lottie, by the way.  I know that’s not enough, but I have to at least try to thank you...so...thanks._

Louis jiggled his leg and tried to distract himself with checking email and facebook alerts so he didn’t read and reread the messages he had sent and tear them apart as he waited for a response.  Luckily he didn’t have to wait long.

_I didn’t know you knew about that. I fear I may have been a bit more violent than necessary. xx_

Louis snorted.

_Lottie was impressed.  I imagine it felt bloody good to punch that git as well._

The text bubble popped up immediately, so Louis didn’t force himself away from the message window this time.

_It did, actually. Did Lottie tell you everything I said? xx_

Louis blushed a bit.  God, even over text Harry seemed to have the ability to get a reaction from Louis’ body.  He’d have to remember that for later.

_Well, she didn’t tell me everything word for word or anything...was there something specific you were wondering about?_

Louis watched with amusement as the typing bubble appeared and disappeared.  Several times. After a few minutes Louis decided to put him out of his misery.

_Oh, you mean about how you were interested in me?_

The typing bubble disappeared for longer this time before his phone began to ring.

“Decide this was more efficient, did you?” Louis teased.

A soft chuckle came down the line.  “Fuck you, I thought I was going to have to find a way to tell you over text without making things awkward,” Harry groaned.

Louis hummed in response.  “I was going to, but I could tell how flustered you were getting just based on how many times you started typing and stopped.”

“Heeyyy,” Harry drawled out.  “I just didn’t want to scare you off if you weren’t prepared for that information.”

“What information would that be, again?” Louis had an ache to hear Harry say it in his own words.

Louis could tell that Harry was debating how to say it by the fidgeting he could hear through the line.

“You have to know it was all for you.”

Louis’ breath caught in his throat.  That was not what he had been expecting.

“Well, I mean, that punch was also hugely for Gemma,” Harry corrected with a bit of a self deprecating laugh, “but going and tracking down the pub James would be most likely to play in and finding them there and telling Lottie everything...that was all for you.”

“Harry…” Louis trailed off.

“No, wait.  Please let me say this.”  Harry took a deep breath before continuing even slower than his already relaxed speech usually was.  “I was so distracted the first time we met.  You were this bewitchingly gorgeous man who knew exactly how attractive he was and what he could do to people, but I was so angry about James and what he had just recently done to Gemma that I couldn’t see past my rage.  And then I found out he had set his sights on you!  And I couldn’t bear the thought of him hurting someone else, but you were so...so...infuriating as well!  And I wasn’t ready to share what he had done.  Call it pride, but I didn’t feel others needed to know about it.  How I’ve kicked myself since then!  Thinking of all the hurt I could have saved you!”

Harry got quiet at this point, so Louis couldn’t help but interject.

“I likely wouldn’t have listened to you, anyway.  You’d already given me a bad taste in my mouth when you said I was only tolerable,” Louis chuckled.

Harry laughed along.  “Yeah, well...sorry about that.  You were definitely more than tolerable.  That red shirt was actually sinful.  And then I saw the way you cared for and took care of Zayn when he was sick, and the way you had bonded so easily with Gemma and Niall when you came out for your break.  And Louis...I thought you were going to kill me in that cat costume for Halloween.  You were so sexy I could hardly stand it.  But, the thing is, you’re so smart as well.  You’re smart and kind and loyal and loving.  I’ve gotten to know all of these sides of you, and I honestly think I’m falling for you.”

Louis remained quiet, mostly because he was afraid the wind had been knocked from him with the amount of passion Harry had used to deliver his last lines.

“Louiiiisss…” Harry whined.

Louis coughed.  “I, uh...wow, Harry.”  Louis could barely make his thoughts slow from their breakneck pace, he had no idea how he was supposed to be able to string sentences together right now.

“If you don’t feel the same, that’s fine.  I just had to let you know.”

“No!  No, that’s not it at all.  I just...can you hear my heart beating?  Because I’m fairly sure it’s loud enough to be picked up by the phone,” Louis joked.  He swallowed to wet his mouth again.  “I just think that I’m scared, and I don’t know how not to be.”

Softly Harry asked, “Why are you scared?”

“Because I think I love you and I’ve never felt that way about anyone before,” he shakily admitted.

“Fuck,” Harry whispered.  “Do you have any plans for this weekend?  Please say no.”

Louis looked over at his wall calendar.  “I was just working on finishing my grading so I would have the entire weekend to myself.  We also have a non-pupil day on Monday, but I’ve already fulfilled that training requirement so I get a holiday as well.  Why do you ask?” he smirked, already having guessed at the answer.

Louis heard keys in the background before Harry answered.  “I’m coming to pick you up.  I’m going to take you somewhere, we’re going to turn off our phones, and we’re just going to spend that time together.”  The line went silent.  “That is, if you’re okay with that.”

“Yes, please,” Louis responded.

“Great,” Harry sighed.  “I’ll be there in a couple of hours.  Pack clothes for the weekend.”

~~~~~

_I’m here, but I don’t remember which flat is yours. xx_

“I’ll probably be back late Monday, Oli.  See you then!” Louis called out as he dragged his suitcase behind him and locked the door.  He turned and saw Harry standing there waiting.

“I thought I had the right one,” he smirked.

Louis couldn't help but just smile at him. He looked absolutely incredible. Harry was wearing the tightest white skinny jeans he'd ever seen paired with a shirt Louis couldn't quite describe all topped with a long black wool coat.

"Harold."

Harry rolled his eyes before taking a step closer. "That's still not my name."

"I'm still not sure I care. Harold, what are you wearing?"

Harry opened his coat further so he could more easily look down at his shirt and jeans. "I'm wearing an Asian inspired print top with some white jeans and my favorite boots. Why?"

Louis blinked a few times. "Is this your usual attire when not in business suits?"

Harry gave a shrug. "More or less."

"Okay," Louis nodded. "One more question. Where'd you hide your dick in those things?"

Harry beamed before winking and turning around. As he swung his hips and began down the stairs in his heeled boots, which only caused his hips to work even more, Harry cheekily asked, "Aren't you excited to find out?"

"I really am," Louis agreed.

~~~~~

They ended up at Harry's mum's summer home in Flamborough about an hour and a half later. Louis had been up since around 5 that morning because of some things he'd needed to prep for his drama classes, so he was completely done in.

Harry gave him a small tour, but Louis couldn't stop yawning, so Harry suggested calling it a night and they could talk more in the morning.

"Sure. Just lead me to the bed," Louis commanded sleepily. He then walked up behind Harry and draped himself over his back, head nuzzled into Harry's neck and arms wrapped around his midsection. Louis was always quite touchy feely, but got even more so when he was tired.

He shuffled his feet forward as Harry guided them down the hall before Harry stopped. "Should I take you to a guest room or..."

"Shut up, Harold. You're not getting any tonight but I'll be damned if you have me sleeping in a cold room alone. Now where's your bed?"

Louis felt Harry's laughter rumble through his body and had never felt so comfortable in his life. They entered a simply styled room that had a nice sized bed, which was all Louis cared about at that moment.

"Hello, my love, let's get to know each other well," he sighed as he flopped onto the right side of the bed. He kicked off his shoes and just continued to lay there, too tired to move. Louis closed his eyes and was already relaxing into sleep when he felt a hand on his ankle and his sock gently being removed. Soon the other followed and there was a pat on his hip.

"Roll over, babe. I can’t unzip your jeans when you're face down like this," Harry instructed. Louis slowly rolled over before inspecting Harry’s face.

"I tell you you're not getting any and you still help undress me?"

Harry huffed out a laugh before leaning up and hovering just above Louis' chest.

"Just because I'm not getting laid doesn't mean I shouldn't treat you well. My goal this weekend is to show you how every former lover should have taken care of you, and I'm starting with helping you get ready for bed when you've obviously had a long day," Harry explained before leaning in and giving Louis their first fully sober kiss.

Louis' heart began to speed up and he felt jolts of excitement just beneath his skin, covering his whole body. He lifted his arms so he could run his fingers through Harry's soft curls while his lips perfectly worked Louis' own.

Harry pulled back all too soon with a knowing smirk. "That's to keep you going until you're more awake tomorrow," he teased.

"I take it back, I'm definitely not falling in love with you," Louis teased as he covered his face with his arm and allowed Harry to remove his jeans.

"God, Lou. Your thighs..." Louis felt him press a kiss to the top of both legs before continuing to pull the pants off each leg. "I can't wait to be able to worship your body tomorrow."

Louis snorted. "You're one to talk. I've been wanting to lick every inch of you ever since you surprised me in your kitchen wearing nothing but a tiny pair of black pants."

"Hmm, there's a lot to look forward to tomorrow then."

Louis uncovered his eyes and saw Harry removing his shirt and starting to unzip his ridiculously tight white jeans.

"No no, you turn my way, Haz. You promised me I would find out how you fit yourself into those and I'm expecting the full show."

Harry gave a dimpled smile over his shoulder before pulling the back of the jeans off and revealing Harry's perfectly shaped bum accented by a pretty white thong.

"Shit, I take it all back. You're definitely getting laid tonight," Louis breathed.

"No, you need your sleep, but I'll sleep in nothing but this tonight, how about that?"

Harry turned around as he peeled off the jeans the rest of the way and Louis could see he had his penis tucked up to allow the jeans to lie more flat across his crotch. Once the jeans were down though, Harry tucked it into the thong and peeled off his shirt.

"I, okay. I'm not sure whether to tell you I love you or you're the worst tease I know," Louis finally answered.

He allowed his eyes to stray to the tattoos that littered Harry's well toned body before easily deciding on a favorite.

"That ship is beautiful," he murmured as Harry laid down beside him. Harry scooted himself back so Louis wrapped his arms around him again before kissing the ship and tucking his feet between Harry's calves. "You're beautiful."

Harry blushed before reaching over to turn off the bedside lamp. "So are you, love. Goodnight."

"Night."

~~~~~

Louis woke up to hair in his mouth and morning wood. Excellent.

Harry was still sleeping soundly and Louis really did need a shower, so he slipped out of bed and quietly padded to the bathroom. He checked the cabinets and found some toothpaste and unopened toothbrushes, as well as the shower already stocked with shampoo and body wash, which was perfect since Louis had packed clothes and basically nothing else.

He went ahead and stripped out of his remaining clothes, cleaned his teeth, and hopped into the steamy shower. He allowed himself to take his time and really make sure every part of him was clean and ready to go. He had no idea what Harry had in mind for their long weekend, but he wanted to make sure he was prepared for anything.

The water began to run cold, so Louis finally dragged himself out from the massaging power of the shower head and toweled off. Only then did he realize his lack of foresight: he'd forgotten to bring in a change of clothes.

He knotted the towel around his waist and wandered out into the hall. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't even remember if he had brought in his bag last night and if he had where he might have dropped it. Did Harry grab it?

He made his way back to the bedroom and found the bed empty as well as neither of their bags. Pursing his lips, Louis decided to go ahead and try the drawers. He found what had to have been clothes from Harry's teenage years still filling them. That would work for now.

He pulled on a soft pair of joggers and a tight Ramones tee before his nose caught the scent of someone cooking. He followed his nose downstairs and into the small kitchen where Harry was standing before the hob in nothing but the white thong from the night before and an apron.

“You really do have the perfect arse, you know that?”  Louis couldn’t help walking up and grasping onto both cheeks with his hands.  Harry was practically asking him to, with them so perfectly on display like that.

“Louis,” he warned.  “As much as I’m enjoying that, while I’m cooking up some bacon and eggs might not be the time for it.”

Louis patted his bum once more before moving to his side.  “Where did this come from, anyway?  I thought you’d said no one had been here in a few months?”

Harry shrugged.  “I might have called in a favor one of the shop owners owed me and had them deliver us some food to tide us over until we felt ready to leave the house.”

Louis lost any comment he might have made when he saw the curls falling into Harry’s face from his bun.  It had obviously been a quick fix not intended to last as there were wisps of hair curling around everywhere.  Louis’ hand seemed to move of its own accord as it raised and gently swept the hair from Harry’s forehead and behind his ear.

“Thanks,” Harry whispered, making eye contact with Louis.

Louis’ eyes glanced down to Harry’s perfectly shaped lips before questioning back to his eyes.  Harry gave a miniscule nod, which was all Louis really needed to raise up onto his toes and press a gentle kiss to his mouth.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled before pulling away to sit at the table.  “Now finish making me my breakfast!”

They continued to banter as Harry finished prepping their food and after their bellies had been filled they made their way back upstairs.

“I like you wearing my clothes, by the way,” Harry murmured as he crowded into Louis’ space.  “I want to make sure we talk about everything that needs to be discussed, but I’m going to be honest and say all I really want to do right now is get you out of these clothes.”  

Harry began to nip at Louis’ neck, and shivers of excitement flowed through Louis’ body.  He wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist and gripped at his bum again.

“Well,” Louis responded hoarsely .  “We could always have some fun before we talk and then we could go for round two after the important stuff is taken care of.”

Harry groaned before pulling Louis into a fierce kiss.  “I want you to fuck me so bad, Lou.  I’ve wanted to feel you in me for so long,” he admitted.

“Shit,” Louis breathed as Harry snuck his hands down the joggers.  “Yeah, okay.  Do you have stuff?”

“Such a technical term, but yes.  Let me grab it.”  

Louis swatted at Harry’s bum as he left the room, still wearing that ridiculous white thong.  Louis peeled the shirt and joggers off and got up on the bed.  He was gently pulling himself to full hardness when Harry reappeared in the doorway.

“God, I think I’d be happy to just watch you,” he sighed.

“That can be arranged, but I’d really prefer to have you be a participant right now.  Now get up on the bed, please, and lay down on your back.”

Harry cocked his hip and met Louis’ eyes.  “You think you’re just gonna take charge in the bedroom?”  He sauntered over to the bed, set the lube and condoms on the table, and pulled the elastic from his hair and shook it down.

Louis gulped.  “Well.  If you want me to fuck you right now, then yes.  I am.  You’ll get your turn later.”

Harry knelt on the bed and climbed on top of Louis.  He leaned over so his hands were beside Louis’ head and leaned in close enough to lick at his lips and grind his hips down on Louis’ unclothed cock.

“What if I wanna ride you?” he whispered in Louis’ ear.

Louis closed his eyes and tried to hold himself back from getting too excited too fast.  It had been awhile, and he was afraid his lack of practice was going to mean he wouldn’t last very long.  Sucking in a deep breath, Louis just nodded.  

“Yeah, sure, just tell me what you want.”

Harry was silent above him and Louis kept his eyes closed.  He knew Harry hadn’t moved, because his breath was still fanning across his face and, honestly, that was enough to keep him fully hard, even if nothing else was happening yet.

“Lou, look at me.”

Louis slowly opened his eyes and saw Harry’s filled with concern.  

“I only want what you want.  I’m not sure what your previous experiences were like because we haven’t gotten there yet, but if I ever do anything to make you uncomfortable…”

“Harry,” Louis groaned.  “I really appreciate you saying all that, but right now all I really want is to get inside you before I come untouched.”

Harry laughed and tucked his head into Louis’ neck.  “You’re that turned on right now?”

“Haz.  You’ve been wearing nothing but a white thong since we got here last night.  What do you want me to say?”

Harry bit his lip and shrugged.  Louis took advantage of the situation and rolled them over so he was on top.  Apparently he’d have to keep that move in mind, because that was all it took for Harry to turn all flushed and his pupils to completely dilate.

Without saying another word, Louis began to drag kisses and lick his way down Harry’s neck to his chest.  He spent some time on the birds adorning his collarbones and made his way over to his nipples.  First he bit, licked, and sucked on one before making his way to the next.  He wanted to make sure Harry knew every part of his body was beautiful.

Once Harry was making so many noises Louis was sure he was ready for more, Louis kissed and tasted his way down his belly.  He made sure to bite on the ferns above his hips as well as nuzzle the hair that led down into the thong.  

Wanting to save the best sensations for last, Louis made sure to completely avoid anywhere the thong touched, giving Harry no relief.  Louis teased with his tongue, letting it slide beneath the waistband, but never any further.  He nipped his way down Harry’s side to where his delicious thighs were on display.

“Mm, babe, I’ve been wanting to get my mouth on these for ages,” Louis admitted before leaning in to the sensitive skin on the inner thigh and pulling some into his mouth.  He worked it with his tongue while sucking to leave a mark, all while breathing in Harry’s musky scent.  “Fuck, you’re so hot, Harry.”

Harry whined and Louis relocated to Harry’s other thigh and nibbled up to his bum and back down to his knee.  Pulling back to inspect the marks he had left littering Harry’s entire torso and thighs, Louis was content enough to hover above his dick, now tenting the thong in what had to be an uncomfortable manner.  Louis breathed hotly onto it and licked at the tip that was peeking out of the side.  Harry hissed and bucked his hips up, seeking more sensation.

“Calm yourself, darling.  I’m getting to it.”  Louis finally pulled the satin cloth down off Harry’s legs.  His dick was lying red and hard on his belly, and Louis was more than willing to get his mouth on it.

Licking his lips, he looked up to see where the lube and condoms were.  He reached up to grab them, dropped them beside Harry’s hip, and licked a broad stripe from base to tip.  He grabbed the base with one hand and began to work in earnest with his mouth.  He sucked hard on the tip and gave fast bobs, twisting his hand at the base to cover what his mouth could not reach.  He was swirling his tongue all along the vein running down the underside when Harry tapped his head and just murmured, “Lou…”

Louis pulled off and grabbed the lube.  “It’s okay, baby.  I don’t want you to come until I’m inside.”

Harry nodded in agreement, his breathing slowing down slightly without the constant attention on his cock.  Louis drizzled some lube onto his fingers and attempted to warm it up a bit before running his hand down Harry’s thigh in warning.  He then watched Harry’s face as he dragged a finger around Harry’s hole.  The puckered muscle tensed some, before finally relaxing enough for the tip of Louis’ finger to enter in.

“That’s right, babe.  Lemme know if I’m going too fast,” Louis instructed as he began to gently work his finger in and out.  Louis leaned over so he could continue to lick and suck at the tiny love handles Harry had as he continued to loosen him up with one, two, three fingers.

Louis worked them in just the right way and he knew he’d found the bundle of nerves he’d been looking for when Harry arched his back and huffed out, “Lou, Lou, Lou, stop.  I’m ready, please, just...please?”

“Okay, H, it’s okay.  I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Louis soothed before slowly pulling his fingers out and wiping them on a tissue from the nightstand.  He quickly tore open the condom and rolled it on before lubing up.  “This position work for you?”

“Yeah, wanna see your face,” Harry panted.

Louis bit his lip and smiled a little up at him before focusing on the task at hand.  

“Toss me a pillow, will you please?”  

Harry grabbed at the one he had knocked out from behind his head at some point earlier and handed it to Louis.  

“Thanks, babe.  Now lift your bum a bit…”  Louis placed the folded pillow beneath Harry’s bum to give him a bit of a better angle.  “Does this hurt your back or anything?”

Harry shook his head.  “No, now please just...get on with it, Lou!”

Louis shook his head and tutted.  “No need to be impatient,” he teased right as he pressed the tip in.  “Oh my god, Harry,” he groaned as he slowly pushed in further.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed.

Louis stopped moving as soon as he was balls deep and did his best to hold still despite the fact his dick was already throbbing and wanting more.

“Fuck, Haz.  You’re so tight, you feel amazing,” he breathed, rubbing circles into Harry’s hips with both hands.

“You...you too,” he stuttered.  Harry wiggled his hips a little to test how he had adjusted before giving the go ahead.  “Move, please,” he begged.

Louis began to gently pump in and out before making the motion longer and stronger.  He was afraid he might bruise Harry with how tight he was gripping his waist, so he leaned over and propped his hands just above his shoulders instead.  

“Oh my god, how can you feel this good?” Louis asked as he continued working into Harry.  Harry’s hands were now roaming Louis’ entire torso and began to scratch at his back a bit.  Louis arched his back in response, which caused the angle to hit where Harry needed because he immediately keened and cried out.

“Yes, fuck, yes!  There, there again!”

Louis did his best to replicate the angle and motion he had used and it worked.  Harry from that point forward was so tightly clenched around Louis, he wasn’t sure he was going to last much longer, but when Harry’s whines intensified because he’d gotten a hand on himself, that was about all Louis could handle.

“Shit, H...Harry, Haz, Hazza...ohmigod…” Louis began to babble nonsense, but he was pretty sure it was mostly just Harry’s name on repeat.

Harry’s breath shuddered as he tried to get out, “Love...love it...when you...call me that.”

“What?” Louis questioned.  “Hazza?”

Harry nodded emphatically and Louis leaned up just a bit further, only having to slow his pace minutely to adjust for the change, and after biting his earlobe whispered, “Hazza.”

Apparently that was all Harry needed as he was sent over the edge.  His shuddering body and the look on his face was more than Louis could bear.  He felt his release come soon after and when he came to, he was plastered to Harry’s front.

“Bloody hell, what was that?” Louis asked with a chuckle.  “We have to do this again as soon as we are able, because if that can be replicated then you’re stuck with me forever!”

Harry gave him a dopey grin.  “Glad you feel that way, because I’m pretty sure I never want to leave this bed now.”

“Mmm,” was all Louis could respond with as he rolled off Harry to better snuggle into his side.

“So…” Harry started, but after a pause Louis realized he wasn’t going to continue.

“So…?”

Harry gently swiped Louis’ fringe away from his face and kissed his nose.  “So we should talk about what exactly we’re doing.”

“Well, Harold.  I’m glad you asked.  I believe we are in an unused summerhome with the express purpose of getting me well sexed before I have to return back to my job of teaching ungrateful teenagers all about the riveting subjects of English and Drama,” Louis teased.

“Ha ha,” Harry fake laughed.  “I’m serious, Lou.  I know we did this a bit backwards and basically professed our love for each other before sleeping together and only now are we talking about a relationship, but that’s what I would like, myself.”

Louis looked up into Harry’s sincere eyes and tightened his hold on him.  “Yeah?  Cause me too.  I’d love to be able to call you my boyfriend.  Even if Lottie will hold it against me that she figured it all out before I did.”

That pulled a real laugh out of Harry and Louis was fairly sure the smile on his own face was blinding.  He had never felt as happy as he did when he made Harry laugh.  He decided it was his new goal to make him laugh every day.

“Okay, boyfriend.  Sounds perfect, boyfriend,” Harry confirmed before pulling Louis in for a kiss.

“Ugh,” Louis said, fake disgusted.  “Are you one of those who calls me boyfriend all the time to make sure that everyone knows?”

A wicked smile lit up Harry’s face.  “But of course, boyfriend!  What else would you expect, boyfriend?  You’re the most beautiful boyfriend ever, boyfriend!  I want to make sure the world knows you’re my boyfriend, boyfriend!”

“Stoooooooop!” Louis cried, covering Harry’s mouth with one hand and pinning his hands down to the bed with the other.  “Are you quite finished?”

It was only then that Louis realized how still and pliant Harry had become beneath him.  He inspected Harry’s face a bit closer and noticed how dark his eyes had gotten and...well...that was definitely his cock getting interested as well.  Louis cocked his brow and tilted his head.  

“Are you into a little bit of bondage, dear Hazza?  Would you like to be submissive for me?”  Harry gave a gulp and nodded.  “Hmm...we will have to explore this at a later date.  For now, I believe you owe me a good fucking.”

Harry gave a wide smile.  “I think I can handle that.”

~~~~~

 

"How can I stand in front of the entire Board without a sweat but now that I'm meeting your family I'm shitting bricks?" Harry questioned. He'd been nervously tapping on the steering wheel since they'd gotten into the car.

Louis reached over and began to comb his fingers through Harry's hair to calm him.

"Lottie already knows about you and she loves you, so I'm not sure why you're so nervous about the rest. You're a whole new level of charming and I'm sure soon enough they will like you even better than me."

Harry grunted in reply and pulled into the driveway Louis indicated. After turning off the car, he just sat there.

Louis rolled his eyes and climbed out of the car. He walked quickly to the other side through the cold and opened Harry's door for him. Leaning over, he reached in, unbuckled Harry's seatbelt, and took his hand.

"Come on, love. No use putting it off now. They're most likely watching from the window anyway."

Harry breathed a sigh and allowed Louis to help him out of the car. Louis didn’t release his hand to walk toward the door and, just as he suspected, it opened before they’d reached the front step.

“Louis’ here!  Happy birthday, love!” Jay cried out, pulling him into a hug.  “And this must be Harry.”  A pensive look flitted across her face before she smiled.  “Lottie’s been telling us all about you!”

Harry’s eyes went wide as she pulled him into a tight hug and Louis could hardly contain his laughter.  He was so happy Harry had agreed to meet his family and join them for his birthday celebrations, even though it did mean pulling him away from his family for Christmas Eve.

They finally entered the hall and introductions to all of Louis’ sisters and dad were made before Zayn and Liam also walked into the hall from the kitchen.

“Zee!  I thought you were in Wolverhampton for Christmas!” Louis exclaimed as he pulled his best mate into a hug.  He hadn’t seen Zayn since Halloween, and he had missed him.

“We wanted to surprise you,” Liam answered.  Louis just smiled back before wrapping him in a hug.  “Could I also have a word with you a bit later?” Liam whispered before letting him go.

“‘Course,” Louis agreed before studying his face.  Liam looked a bit nervous, but hopefully everything was alright.

Everyone moved immediately to the dining room and settled around the table to eat.  Harry was put at ease quickly by the girls asking questions regarding his hair and the fact that Liam was also getting attention.  Dinner went quickly and, soon enough, Jay had asked Harry to join her in the office while the rest filed into the lounge.  Daisy and Phoebe had soon pulled Zayn to the computer so they could show him some art projects they had been working on for school and as soon as Zayn was occupied, Liam caught his eye.

“Is there somewhere a bit more private?” Liam asked as he glanced around.  Louis headed to the stairs and climbed to his old bedroom.  As soon as the door was closed, the floodgates opened.  “Zayn always said you were his best mate and should anything serious happen between us I needed to make sure we had your approval because without your approval he said he could never go through with it and I’ve been in love with him since I’m pretty sure the night he vomited on me and I’d really like you to give me your approval so I can ask him to marry me tomorrow.”

Liam’s chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath and Louis’ face lit up with a smile.  He giggled a little in excitement and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Shit.  You’re gonna propose to Zaynie?”  He could feel his eyes filling with happy tears.  He had never seen Zayn so happy and at ease as he was with Liam and Louis just knew from the earnest look on Liam’s face that he would always treat Zayn well.

“Yeah,” Liam breathed.  “If you’re okay with that.”

Louis scoffed.  “Of course I’m okay with that!  Don’t be daft.  I’m so happy for both of you!” he cried as he pulled Liam into another hug.  “Just swear to me you’ll take care of him, because if you do anything I’ll never stop hunting you down.”

Liam laughed a bit through his tears.  “Yes, sir.”

They laughed and discussed Liam’s plans before returning back to the lounge.  Zayn looked at them curiously, but before Louis could do more than shrug, Jay was calling for him from the office.

Louis headed towards the room and saw Harry exit looking a bit pale, but with a smile on his face.  Louis questioned him with his eyes, but Harry just nodded and squeezed his hand as he passed.  Louis loved how easily they could communicate with a simple look or touch and greatly missed that while they were apart.

He entered the room with Jay and closed the door again.

“I’ve just been talking with Harry because I wanted to get his side of the story.  It seems he’s been fond of you for far longer than I expected,” she explained.

Louis nodded.  “Yeah, it’s kinda crazy.  I’m glad Lotts helped me finally figure that out,” Louis chuckled.

“I thought you despised Harry and everything he stood for.  What changed?  I just want to make sure there’s more to this than you just following through on one of your father’s hair brained schemes,” Jay asked.

“I was so wrong, Mum.”  Louis shook his head and bit his lip.  He had no idea how he was going to be able to explain it all to her without actually telling her everything.  That would take ages.  “He’s incredible, really.  He’s so good and has the biggest heart.  He cares so much for his family and for me.  He’s so genuine and kind and only does what he thinks is best for everyone involved, even if that means he gets the short end.  He’s just…”  Louis trailed off and rubbed his mouth with his hand as he tried to gather his thoughts.

“You love him,” Jay breathed out, surprised.  As Louis turned to her, he saw her eyes were filled with tears.

“Yeah, I do.”

She nodded.  “Okay, then.  That’s all I wanted to be sure of.  I love you so much, sweetie.  I didn’t want you throwing yourself into a relationship that looked like it might settle for anything less.”  

She stood from her chair and wrapped her arms around Louis.  He always had loved his mum’s hugs.  They were the perfect amount of pressure, warmth, and her familiar smell that always had the effect of putting him at ease.

“Thanks, mum.”

~~~~~

Zayn, of course, said yes when Liam proposed Christmas morning.  They were married in the Spring and Louis proposed not long after.

In the end, because he insisted that Harry and Louis were only together thanks to his plan of Louis wooing Harry at Stan’s party, Louis’ father always took the credit for their relationship.

When he declared it as such in his speech at their wedding, the couple exchanged fond looks and let him have it.  It made for a good story, after all.

**  
**  


**Author's Note:**

> For the rebloggable post, please go [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/125670808768/against-his-better-judgement-34590-words-by) and come visit me on [tumblr](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com)!


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